Cotriguaçu’s Superintendent highlights that the railroad operation to Paranaguá’s Container Terminal is cheaper, safer, and less polluting.
On March 14, the Cotriguaçu cooperative terminal, which is connected by rail to the Paranaguá Container Terminal (TCP), turns 10 years old. In the last five years alone, more than 2.8 million tons of chicken were exported by the railroad.
Before the rail connection, the cooperative used the highway for cargo transportation. Cotriguaçu’s superintendent, Gilson Luiz Anzielli, points out that ” the operation by rail is safer, produces less carbon emissions, and is up to 30% cheaper when compared to truck transport”.
These advantages also reflect in TCP’s overall figures. According to the commercial and customer service manager, Giovanni Guidolim, “in 2022, one in every five export containers arrived at the terminal by rail, a great logistical differential of our company, the only one in the south of Brazil with direct access to the bonded area”.
Between 2018 and 2022, the number of TEUs (unit equivalent to a 20-foot-long container) handled by Cotriguaçu’s railway line to Paranaguá rose from 23,056 to 45,808, a 99% increase in the transportation of chicken for export. “The exclusive rail access to TCP, the agility in vessel receiving and loading, and the infrastructure of the reefer container area are attractive differentials to us,” highlights Anzielli.
Reefer Cargo
Cotriguaçu – Cooperativa Central is a Brazilian company, headquartered in the city of Cascavel, founded by a consortium of agricultural cooperatives in the western region of the state of Paraná. The Frozen Food Unit of the cooperative is responsible for receiving, storing and shipping frozen products for export and the domestic market. It has a cold chamber capable of storing 10 thousand tons of frozen products, qualified by the Federal Inspection Service (SIF).
The frozen goods unit is qualified to store products for the domestic market and for exports from the European Union, Chile, Japan, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In addition, it has the Halal Certificate, a mandatory requirement to export to Muslim countries, certifying that the animals were slaughtered according to Islamic laws.
“We have a demanding global market, which seeks quality and responsibly manufactured products. We are in a rapidly expanding market, which demonstrates the competence and quality of the cooperatives in western Paraná”, says Anzielli.
The rail connection with TCP is, above all, strategic: the modal allows the transport of reefer containers, which are delivered to a large reefer yard in Paranaguá. TCP is currently the market leader in the meat and frozen foods segment, with a park that offers 3,572 plugs for the connection of reefer containers. The expectation for 2023 is to expand this number to 5,126 outlets, along with the construction of a power substation to sustain the increase.
“TCP is investing strongly in the area of refrigeration and the return is the world leadership in the movement of frozen poultry. To maintain our level of excellence among our customers, we are expanding the reefer area by 43%. This way, we will supply the greatest need of the livestock sector: reefer containers”, Guidolim highlights.
In the last year alone, the cooperative invested R$14.4 million in the frozen goods logistics area. Currently, the volume of frozen goods traded between Cotriguaçu and shipping companies is considered the third largest in Brazil.
About TCP
Opened in 1998, TCP has undergone several cycles of investment in infrastructure and innovation, receiving R$2.1 billion in improvements since 2000. The annual container movement fluctuated around 250,000 TEUs per year at that time, today it exceeds 1.1 million per year. Since 2018 the terminal has been controlled by the China Merchants Port Holdings Company (CMPort) group, considered the largest and most competitive port and terminal operator in China and the world, with more than 50 terminals under control. The current concession for the area lasts until 2048.
About Cotriguaçu
Founded in 1975, Cotriguaçu is composed of the C.Vale, Coopavel, Copacol and Lar cooperatives and their associated cooperatives, which have units in Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, and an office in Paraguay.
