LDC opens sugar terminal in São Paulo to boost rail exports to Santos

Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) inaugurated an intermodal sugar terminal on Thursday (21) in Pederneiras, in the interior of São Paulo state.

The investment, the amount of which was not disclosed, is part of the company’s strategy to expand its sourcing and export capacity for sugar and to strengthen logistics synergies with its other operations, such as grains and oilseeds.

According to the company, the terminal will serve as a new logistics route for mills in Brazil’s Center-South region, allowing sugar to be transported to the Port of Santos by rail—an alternative to the currently dominant road transport.

The facility spans 120,000 square meters, comprising 14,000 square meters of built-up area. It features a bulk storage warehouse with a static capacity of 90,000 tonnes and the ability to handle at least 150,000 tonnes per month.

The receiving and shipping system includes automatic sampling, automated scales, and conveyors, with the capacity to receive up to 6,000 tonnes of sugar per day in two shifts and to ship up to 8,500 tonnes daily via rail. The full operation may reach 1 million tonnes annually.

Competitiveness and integration

“With this sugar terminal, LDC becomes even more competitive, as it allows for strategic product storage, optimizes sales during the harvest, and offers an efficient road-rail logistics alternative. With the start of operations in Pederneiras, we will double our sugar volumes transported by rail, which will reach 50% nationwide,” said Guilherme Correia, Head of the Sugar Platform at LDC Brazil.

The terminal will be the second logistics asset under LDC’s Sugar Platform and will operate in an integrated manner with the Guarujá Sugar Export Terminal (TEAG), where the company is part of a joint venture. Recent investments at TEAG have also prioritized the expansion of rail transport, reinforcing the company’s logistics efficiency strategy.

Logistics network expansion

“The start of operations at the Pederneiras terminal marks an important step in our logistics network. We’ve been moving grain in this region for 20 years, connecting waterways to railways, and we’re now expanding that capability with sugar operations. This will allow us to increase rail flows and load daily trains with 80 wagons of combined grain and sugar,” said João Paiva, Global Director of Ports and Waterways at LDC.

According to him, “this integration between commodities boosts the volume of grain shipped to both the Guarujá Export Terminal (TEG) and the Santos Export Terminal (TES), in addition to the volume of sugar to TEAG.”

Source:  Agrofy

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