Santa Catarina’s Port Terminals Expand to Meet Soaring Demand

Private port terminals in Santa Catarina are receiving substantial investments to bolster their infrastructure and expand capacity, driven by growing market demands for more efficient and competitive operations.

Portonave, which operates a Private Use Terminal (TUP) in Navegantes, is investing R$1 billion to upgrade its dock, which features two berths. The goal is to deepen the navigation channel to 17 meters, enabling the terminal to accommodate container ships up to 400 meters long in the future.

“We need to develop and enhance this infrastructure because the market demands it, and we aim to stay competitive. Investments are ongoing, and we have consistently made these investments,” says Osmari de Castilho Ribas, Portonave’s administrative superintendent director.

Located in the Itajaí-Açu river complex, opposite the Port of Itajaí, the Navegantes Private Use Terminal is undergoing upgrades in two stages, alternating between the berths. Until the project is complete, Portonave will operate with only one berth.

“The existing structure allows us to meet the needs of the frozen and refrigerated products market. Our cold storage facility gives us a competitive edge, but we handle all types of cargo,” Ribas adds.

Meanwhile, Porto Itapoá is also enhancing its facilities. Felipe Fioravanti Kaufmann, director of Business Development and Customer Experience, says the company has plans to expand its area and acquire new equipment for container operations.

“Although the specifics of the expansion project are not yet defined, we expect our capacity to double over the next ten years, from 2 million to 4 million TEUs,” Kaufmann says, without disclosing the investment figures. He notes that the company recently approved a plan to increase power outlets for refrigerated containers from 3,000 to 4,080, primarily to support meat exports from Santa Catarina and other regions of Brazil.

“The market urgently needs increased international sales capacity. Agriculture is vital for us, especially in exports. Animal protein is the main product, but we are developing new operations,” Kaufmann explains. One of these new flows is cotton. In early July, Porto Itapoá developed a specific stuffing structure for this commodity. Kaufmann notes that the dedicated operation is starting as a pilot and can be scaled up based on results and trader interest. “We are redesigning an area to facilitate this trade, positioning Itapoá as an alternative to Santos. The cotton project could serve as a model for other cargoes. These markets have large volumes, and our goal is to create scalable operations for our clients,” he says.

The following chart shows the sum of container exports and imports recorded for the ports of Navegantes and Itapoa between January 2021 and May 2021. The data featured below comes from DataLiner.

Navegantes and Itapoa Container Throughput | Jan 2021 – May 2024 | TEU

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

In São Francisco do Sul, the Santa Catarina Port Terminal (TESC) is planning investments to expand its agricultural bulk operations, focusing on soybeans and corn. Agribrasil, the grain trading company and majority shareholder, currently holds an exclusive contract for the grain berth, which was inaugurated a year ago.

TESC, which leases an area within the public port of São Francisco do Sul, initially expected to export 700,000 tons in the first six months of its grain operations but ended up exporting 1.3 million tons.

Operating at full capacity, the terminal can ship 3.5 million tons annually. “Our bottleneck is not in shipping but in receiving and static capacity. We believe the system needs to expand to serve ships more regularly and sequentially,” explains Fábio Mota, CEO of TESC.

The terminal currently stores 90,000 tons of grain in three silos, with plans to build an additional silo for another 30,000 tons and increase the number of tippers.

“Even before executing the project, we anticipated the need for another silo. We waited for the current capacity to mature before beginning the expansion,” says Mota.

Source: Valor Econômico

Click here to access the original report: https://valor.globo.com/empresas/noticia/2024/07/30/terminais-ampliam-capacidade-em-sc-para-atender-agronegocio.ghtml

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