Suape signs a service order to connect the port’s rail branch with the Sertão Railway

A 9.7-kilometer section in the Suape Port Industrial Complex between the BR-101 and PE-09 roads and the eastern part of Tatuoca Island will be the subject of studies to modernize the executive project of the port’s rail branch and its link to the Sertão Railway.

The rail branch will allow for constructing an ore terminal on Ilha de Cocaia, which will handle production from reserves in Curral Novo, Piauí, only 703 kilometers away from the port. Such enterprise was first envisioned in the port’s 2011 master plan.

The consortium formed by the companies TPF Engenharia and B&C Engenheiros Consultores Ltda won the project’s contract. The work order shall be signed in the coming days by the director of engineering of the state-owned port, Cláudio Valença, and other representatives of the corporations involved. The investment in this executive project is R$ 5,270,000.00.

“This is a crucial step in preparing the port’s infrastructure for this project, which will have positive impacts not only for Suape but for the entire production chain in Pernambuco and neighboring states. The railway connections bring an infinity of new business possibilities for different cargo, such as grains and vehicles,” emphasizes Roberto Gusmão, the CEO of Suape.

Director Cláudio Valença explains that a new contract was necessary to update the old executive project from 2014. “During this period, soil erosion was identified in some important stretches. In addition, it will be necessary to readjust the route due to the new companies in the vicinity of the old branch,” he points out. Valença also highlighted the importance of re-studying the soil along 660 meters after the Massangana River bridge. “The objective is to seek the best engineering intervention in line with the most cost-effective execution of this service,” as well as to integrate the railway quota levels with the ore terminal,” he adds.

The Sertão Railway is an alternative to the Transnordestina, which began construction in 2006 and remains unfinished because of successive delays in implementing the project whose company in charge is TLSA. The authorization for the construction of the new branch was signed by the then-Minister of Infrastructure Tarcísio de Freitas on December 10, 2021.

The private sector will carry out the project’s implementation at an estimated cost of R$ 5.7 billion. The removal of the island from the jurisdiction of the organized port of Suape, required for the installation of the terminal, was published in Brazil’s Official Gazette on April 28th.

Sharing is caring!