Cargo flow on Brazil’s North-South Railway grows 18% in 2022

VLI, the logistics company responsible for the northern section of Brazil’s North-South Railway (FNS), has reported an 18% increase in the cargo volume transported through the rail corridor in 2022. The asset composes a key route for the outflow of agricultural produce heading to the port system of São Luís in Maranhão state. Cargo transportation via rail increased from 12.7 million tonnes in 2021 to approximately 15 million tonnes in 2022, with VLI providing high-efficiency logistics services for customers in the region, including grain, fuel, ores, and pulp.

One highlight of 2022 in the logistics corridor was the Porto Franco Integrated Terminal (TIPF) in Maranhão. The facility can handle 600,000 tonnes annually, mainly soybeans and corn from Maranhão, Pará, and Piauí. Also last year, the São Luís Port Terminal (TPSL), operated by VLI, set a record for cargo volume with 5.4 million tonnes of general cargo transported.

Expectations for 2023 are positive, with good prospects for soybean and corn crops and the official inauguration of the new fertilizer corridor of Brazil’s Arco Norte, or “Northern Arc,” a logistics infrastructure system consisting of ports, highways, and railways located in the northern region of the country. The project results from a partnership between VLI and the Itaqui Port Operating Company (Copi).

The operation connects Copi’s terminal in Maranhão to VLI’s Palmeirante Integrated Terminal in Tocantins. The initial investments in the project were around R$200 million, and the initial capacity of the new structure is 1.5 million tonnes per year. From the Palmeirante Terminal, the inputs will serve producers in an area covering the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Bahia, and Piauí, as well as Tocantins, Maranhão, and the Federal District.

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