Railway grains transhipment in the State of Tocantins already moves more than 80 thousand tons

The Transbordo Ferroviário de Grãos da Agrex do Brasil (Railway Grains Transhipment of Agrex of Brazil), in the intermodal courtyard of the city of Porto Nacional, in the State of Tocantins, is corresponding to the initial predictions related to its performance. Up to early April, 82,300 tons of products have already been delivered, so that 67,200 tons have been shipped in wagons. At first, the merchandises are only soy beans.

The grains standardization branch, inaugurated in early February, received R$ 25 million in investments and have an area of 5,117.35 m². This is the second Agrex road and railway transhipment in the wayside of the North-South Railway, and the first one in the city of Porto Franco, in the State of Maranhão.

Accordingly to the logistics manager Edson Ferreira Dantas, several benefits could be noticed with the implementation of the transhipment, such as the increase in the competitiveness due to a greater combination of modals (road / railway), the agility in the release of grains to the port due to the capacity of the railway and the service level for the client due to the proximity to the farming.

“In spite of the model of railway concessions and the low supply of railway transports in Brazil, something that makes it difficult to reduce freight costs, this corridor and the way by which it is being structured began to generate a reduction of costs for the release in the port. In this specific project (the Porto Nacional), the reduction is around 5%”, says Edson.

The received and shipped volume in the railway is around R$ 60.3 million (the value of the goods) in total. The expectation for the first semester of 2015 is to move 200,000 tons of soy beans, around R$ 180 million (value of the goods).

Intermodal Courtyard of Porto Nacional

The Intermodal Courtyard of Porto Nacional is under the responsibility of Valec, a public engineering, constructions and railway company. It has been built in a strategic site, 25 kilometres far from Palmas (State of Tocantins), with an extension of 5,498m² and access to the BR-153 road.
The expectation is that a maximum of 15 lessee companies will be installed there. Agrex do Brasil, as well as other lessee companies, has a deadline of 15 years for using the site, a deadline that can be renewed for the same period.

Fonte:  Diário da Manhã