O Thursday's Economic Value brings good news to Brazil: since August, Hidrovias do Brasil has been moving grain between its transshipment station in Miritituba (PA) and its terminal in the port of Barcarena (PA), using the Tapajós river waterway. This is the second operation of its kind in the region, which had Bunge as a precursor in 2014. For the next harvest, the expectation is that Bunge and Hidrovias do Brasil move approximately 10 million tons of grain through the corridor, 2,5 times more than in the 2014/15 season.
For a country like Brazil, which produces about 190 million tons of grain per harvest, transporting 10 million may seem like little. However, the start of operations by Hidrovias do Brasil in Miritituba means another step towards the consolidation of Arco Norte as a means of transporting grain to the international market. If the investments materialize in the coming years, the expectation is that the Tapajós River alone will drain around 40 million tons of grain per year!
Using the ports in the North region to ship soy is an old dream of traders and those who study the logistics of agribusiness and the region. Over the years and the various projects we have carried out, we at ILOS have always highlighted the opportunity to reduce costs by using the ports in the North to export soy. In some cases, this reduction can reach 30% of the current cost of transporting grain by truck to the port of Santos, but the changes have always come up against the precariousness of the country's transport infrastructure.
Figure 1 – Map with the ports of Arco Norte
Source: Ministry of Agriculture
It is worth remembering that this change only brings benefits to the grain producing regions located above the 16th parallel south, which is close to the main production zones in the state of Mato Grosso. In addition to Barcarena, the ports of Santarém (PA) and Santana (AP) can also receive barges coming from the Miritituba transhipment stations. Although it is not within reach of Miritituba, the port of São Luis (MA) is another option in Arco Norte for transporting grains, especially those produced in the Matopiba region, formed by the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia.
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Alexandre Lobo
https://ilos.com.brGraduated in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and in Social Communication from Faculdades Integradas Hélio Alonso (FACHA). Expertise in several projects with emphasis on market analysis for companies such as Unilever, Intertank, Invepar, Aqces, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank.
