Açu Port a new option for cabotage trades in Brazil

With a current 160,000 sq m bonded area, 14.5 metres draught able to receive vessels post-panamax ships T-MULT began operations in 2014.

It handless minerals of bauxite, coke, coal, gypsum, scrap, general and project cargo and can also move other cargoes such as manganese, salt, iron ore and pig iron.

T-MULT, with all the ISOs, can also reduce bottlenecks in other ports in the importation of steel and cement inputs located in the Southeast as fluxes. These features make the operation faster, more efficient and, above all, cheaper.

"T-MULT is the port solution for industries located in the Southeast and Midwest of the country, both to drain their production and to import inputs and resources, thus unlocking the ports that are operating at their maximum capacity, “said Tadeu Fraga, ceo of Açu Port Operations, company that manages the Açu Port complex.

“The strategic location and state-of-the-art infrastructure already in place at the complex can make domestically produced products even more competitive, with a view to reducing companies' logistical costs. And with the extension of the Brazilian coast, it is natural that cabotage is considered one of the main alternatives," said Fraga.

Expansion of the terminal will include increasing the area of the storage yard and covered storage construction, further enhancing the terminal's activities.

Among the loads that can be moved are agricultural bulk, concentrates (copper, zinc, among others), hydrates, fertilizers, breakbulk and products for steel. The terminal is licensed to operate vehicles and is developing a project to create the infrastructure needed to move containers.

With access to the main Brazilian highways, T-MULT currently carries out integrated operations of import and export in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais Gerais, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. In 2018, the door-to-door accounted for 42% of the volume handled by the Terminal.

In addition to door-to-door import and export solutions, T-MULT also carries out multimodal operations using a transhipment terminal installed only 300 km from the port. In addition, three integrating terminals are being developed in Três Rios, Vitória and BH Metropolitan Region.

The terminal showed a growth of 96% from 2016 to 2018 in the volume handled, totalling 1.4m tonnes. In 2018, for example, seven types of different products were operated for a total of 15 customers, twice the number served in 2017. In addition, T-MULT also achieved an unloading efficiency record of around 22,000 tonnes per day.