Last week, the Port of Itaqui handled its 500th vessel in just over six months. Despite the pandemic, the public port of Maranhão has been operating and providing essential services to the entire north-central region of Brazil. “All this is the result of a rigorous safety protocol. The first half of this year proved that our efforts to keep the port operating has been effective. In this atypical year, our resistance and quick response to the crisis has made possible the maintenance of jobs, assuring fundamental aspects as the exports collections, besides we have safeguarded supplies to the cities in our area of influence”, said the president of the Port, Ted Lago. 830 ships have passed through the Port of Itaqui throughout 2019. It represents over 69 moorings per month. In 2020, these numbers are around 80. The Liberian flagged vessel number 500 was the SBI Hyperion. She sailed from the Port of Itaqui on September 27th after loading 65,000 tons of corn. The vessel came from the Port of Conakry, Republic of Guinea, bound for the Port of Haifa in Israel. For the second semester, as the operation of the second phase of Tegram starts in August, the expectation is for more growth in cargo handling. That will increase the grain handling capacity in the port of Itaqui to 19 million tons per year. The fertilizer volume is also expected to grow this year when the new fertilizer terminal of Companhia Operadora Portuária do Itaqui (Copi) opens. The projection is to jump from a capacity of 2 million to 3.5 million tons of fertilizer imports per year. The projects of Ultracargo, Granel and Raízen are also expanding bulk infrastructure at Itaqui, besides the possible bidding for the lease of four areas for terminals, planned for this second semester, which means an investment of R$ 478.1 million from the private sector in the public port of Maranhão.
Source: EMAP / Promare