Almost 190,000 TEUs were handled in 2022; paper, cellulose and chicken meat are among the busiest cargoes.
TCP, the company that manages the Container Terminal in Paranaguá, recorded more than twice the number of container movements on the railroad compared to 7 years ago. In 2022, 189,014 TEUs (measured for a 20-foot container length) were handled, against 92,307 TEUs in 2016.
One of the main leaps in rail volume took place between 2021 and 2022, with 40% growth. The cargo that showed the most growth in the period was paper and cellulose, which increased from 3,392 movements in 2021; to 31,016, in 2022. The second fastest growing commodity was chicken meat. In 2022, 56,530 TEUs were handled, 5,108 more than in 2021.
According to the marketing and logistics manager, Mateus Campagnaro, the record is the result of “a consistent strategy over the years in intermodality, which has positioned the company as a leader in moving containers by rail between Brazilian terminals. The direct connection of the railway branch with the terminal is a unique design in the South and represents agility, security and cost reduction for our customers. Brazil is a continental country where most of the commodities produced are far from the ports and, therefore, the railroad is a unique differential for the country to continue growing in exports”, he highlights.
In partnership with Brado Logística, the multimodality combining railroad in long distances and road in short stretches brings competitiveness and more productivity in relation to the strictly road modal. One in every five containers exported by Paranaguá use the railroad. “In addition to competitiveness, the multimodal solution generates benefits for the environment, with the intrinsic reduction in the carbon footprint, and social benefits, with reductions in accidents and the development of the Brazilian interior”, says Brado’s executive commercial manager, Vinicius Cordeiro.
One of the operational bases is located in Cambé, where several companies from Norte Pioneiro, in the interior of São Paulo and Paraguay use the modal to export frozen meat, peanuts, sugar, coffee, among other products. Another key point is in Cascavel, which meets the demands of cooperatives specialized in agribusiness that export by rail.
The most recent rail link is the KBT project in Ortigueira. Custom-built for one of TCP’s largest exporters, the project is a world reference in logistics, and links the export plant to the port through its own container yard, managed by TCP, connected to the railroad.
RAILWAY INVESTMENTS
One of the investments in the sector will be the replacement of the railway scale, scheduled for the end of January 2023. TCP’s information technology manager, Walter Junior, explains that “the dynamic railway scale is an agile, more modern and safer solution. , making it possible to weigh wagons or railway compositions in motion, unlike the traditional scale in which the operation needs to weigh wagon by wagon. In addition, the equipment has two capture modules instead of one, which brings greater safety and availability to the weighing service”. According to Walter, the rails support 30 tons per wheel or 60 tons per axle.
Another investment will be the electrification of the railway’s RTGs in Paranaguá. Currently, the devices run on diesel, but will be adapted to a system of electrical conductors. The model will bring more sustainability, eliminating the emission of polluting gases and providing greater operational efficiency.
In addition, TCP invests heavily in the refrigeration area, which is in great demand in the agribusiness market. Currently, the company is the world leader in the chicken meat export service and, to maintain its leadership, it is expanding the reefer (refrigerated) area of ??the terminal by 43%. That is, by the end of 2023, TCP will have more than 5,000 outlets for powering and storing refrigerated containers.
