Klabin, Brado, and TCP: Intermodal Logistics Project KBT Marks 3 Years with Record Productivity

On Sunday, September 15, the intermodal logistics project KBT will mark its third anniversary since its inauguration. This date brings with it a series of new productivity records for the project, demonstrating the advancements of the initiative and greater efficiency in the paper and pulp export corridor between Ortigueira and Paranaguá, in the state of Paraná.

Inaugurated in September 2021, KBT connects the container terminal next to the Ortigueira Unit – a Klabin factory with a production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of paper and pulp per year – to the Port Container Terminal in Paranaguá via a railway operated by Brado Logística.

In 2024, KBT reaches its third year with the best productivity in its history: in the first half of the year, 43,245 containers were handled, a 201% increase compared to the 14,362 containers recorded in the same period of 2022.

Shipments handled by KBT also saw a 67% increase in the first half of the year, rising from 17,988 TEUs in 2022 to 30,078 TEUs in 2024.

Fabio Henrique Mattos, logistics operations manager at TCP, highlights that “the consecutive productivity records achieved in the container terminal operations in Ortigueira and the Port Container Terminal in Paranaguá, both managed by TCP, demonstrate the efficiency gains and maturation of the Project, resulting in a constant increase in its role within the Terminal’s railway operations.”

Another statistic that underscores the Project’s progress is the increase in the number of stops for loading and unloading trains: there were 140 in the first half of 2024, compared to 100 recorded in 2022. Currently, TCP is the only port terminal in southern Brazil with a direct railway connection to the customs area within its operational yard.

According to Giovanni Guidolim, commercial, logistics, and customer service manager at TCP, “the increase in KBT’s indicators reinforces the success of the project, a joint achievement made possible by the alignment of the three companies in continuously investing and always focusing on long-term results. Thus, today, the KBT Project has become a benchmark in national logistics with its tailor-made approach and modal diversification for greater transport capacity for a single client.”

Sustainability

The installation and operation of the KBT project have also brought significant improvements in sustainability in the paper and pulp export corridor connecting Ortigueira to Paranaguá, as explained by Bianca Kulakowski, product manager at Brado Logística: “in the first half of 2022, transporting goods via KBT on the railway avoided the emission of 8.9 thousand tons of CO₂. With the increased movement, in 2024 the avoided emissions reached 12.4 thousand tons, equivalent to the annual emissions of 2.6 thousand vehicles. It would take 88 thousand trees to fully absorb this volume.”

In the first half of 2024, KBT carried out an average of 23 rail operations per month, each consisting of 82 container-carrier wagons. This operation also avoided the movement of approximately 1 thousand trucks with rodotrem trailers – which carry 2 containers per trip – on the stretch connecting Ortigueira to Paranaguá, representing a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as well as stress on Paraná’s highways.

In line with this, Mattos states that “railway operations offer lower risks of damage and greater accuracy in transit times and are aligned with TCP’s initiatives to reduce pollutant emissions, as container loading and unloading on trains is done using electrified RTGs (rubber-tired gantry cranes) at the Port Container Terminal in Paranaguá.”

In 2023, TCP completed the electrification of the two RTGs responsible for moving containers on the railway. The equipment conversion resulted in a 97% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions for each crane’s operation.