Weekly container calls returning to Itaqui from February

After a season of tests and adjustments, which began in August 2019, the regular container line that services the Port of Itaqui will resume its weekly calls from February.

“The aim of restarting the service is to attract more business and to reduce the logistical cost that companies face in Maranhão, strengthening a crucial part of the state’s economic growth. The market has organized itself around the consolidation of cargoes at the Port of Itaqui, which today has all the necessary infrastructure to conduct this operation ”, said the president of EMAP (the port administration) Ted Lago.

According to the national sales / cabotage manager at Aliança Navegação e Logística, Jaime Batista, as of the second week of February, the ship Aliança Leblon will start weekly calls at Itaqui. “We spent a few months testing, monitoring productivity, as well as understanding the cargoes that could be moved in the service and the results motivated us to set a weekly call,” he said.

“Now Maranhão is on the domestic market’s cabotage route and the expectation is to grow a lot starting this year”, said Batista. As this weekly option is disseminated in the market, we expect to see a rise in volumes handled. Cargoes are varied: including food, construction material, raw material for industries, rice, refrigerated chicken, among others. The initial expectation is that the service will move 1,800 containers per month.

Two years ago negotiations began between the Government of Maranhão, the Secretariat of Industry, Commerce and Energy (Seinc), EMAP, the port community and the private sector. EMAP has invested in infrastructure and feasibility studies since 2015. Those investments culminated in the delivery of a new container yard in 2017, equipped with reefer plugs.

The joint effort is supported by the Itaqui port workers’ unions, pilotage, operators, freight forwarders, shipping agencies and Aliança Navegação e Logística.

The container storage area at the Port of Itaqui covers about ​​20,250 square meters with static capacity for 1,341 TEU. A total of R$ 10 million was invested in the engineering work and a further R$ 9 million in electrical works.

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