Expansion of Maranhão grain terminal increases capacity at Itaqui Port

The expansion of the Maranhão grain terminal, Tegram, which began on August 31, is expanding the grain-handling capacity of the Port of Itaqui. This is because investments made by the Tegram Consortium made it possible to handle simultaneous grain shipments at berths 100 and 103, increasing Itaqui’s capacity to 20 million tons of grain per year, including VLI operations at berth 105.

The Consortium invested R$260 million during this second phase of the project. In addition to the funds provided during the first phase (R$ 600 million), the total amount invested is R$860 million. The work generated approximately 500 jobs and once it is finished, the terminal should require more than 100 new workers.

“This investment included the duplication of the railway hopper, from the hopper’s receiving conveyor belts to warehouses and from warehouses to berth 100, as well as a 3000 ton-per-hour ship loader, which more than doubles our current capacity”, stated Marcos Pepe Bertoni, director of the Tegram consortium.

A record July

This new phase also marks the best July in the history of Itaqui Port. The total cargo handled in July by the port reached 2.4 million tons and was above the previous record set in 2018, when 2.3 million tons of cargo passed through Itaqui. In July 2020, records were also set in the handling of solid bulk and specific loads of soybean meal, corn, wheat, and LPG.

The expectation is to close this year with a volume of more than 8.3 million tons of grain at Tegram alone. From January to July, the terminal handled 70 ships, 300 trains, 61,000 trailers, and more than 4.8 million tons of grain.

The graph below shows Itaqui port´s cargo handling history:

Tegram is one of the largest infrastructure projects for Brazilian grain exports and has directly benefited producers in the MATOPIBA region (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia) and in the northeastern area of Mato Grosso.

The consortium that manages Tegram is formed by the companies Terminal Corredor Norte (linked to the trading company NovaAgri, held by the Japanese group Toyota Tsusho), Glencore Serviços (held by the Glencore trading company), Corredor Logística e Infraestrutura (logistics arm of the CGG Group, which also deals in grain trading and production), and ALZ Terminais Portuários (from the Amaggi, Louis Dreyfus, and Zen-Noh Grain trading companies).

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