Rumo and Coopercitrus agree on partnership

Rumo Logística, the division of the Cosan Group responsible for the transport of sugar and grain, has reached an agreement with Coopercitrus, one of the most traditional co-operatives in São Paulo, for the establishment of a new company to exploit the Coopercitrus terminal in Barretos (SP). This new company will seek to reopen the railway line passing beside this terminal, the President of Rumo, Júlio Fontana, told Valor.

The new company, by the name of TB S.A. (Barretos Terminal) will have 50% participation of each component in the business. The contract also sets forth that TB will have the option to buy this terminal in years to come.

Rumo offers their structure for rail transport of sugar from the terminal to the Port of Santos. Coopercitrus, in turn, will make available the structure of their cargo terminal, which has a static capacity to store some 130 thousand tonnes of sugar or grain.

This region is of strategic importance to Rumo, as it lies close to large alcohol-producing units in the city of Ribeirão Preto [the main production hub in the city of São Paulo], says Mr Fontana. The municipality of Barretos has a cultivated area of some 65 thousand hectares of sugar cane, as well as a significant potential for expansion in the cultivation of grain.

With this agreement, Rumo will be controlling five terminals in the State, in the cities of Sumaré, Jaú, Pradópolis, Barretos and Tirapina, currently under construction. We are considering terminals outside São Paulo but, at this moment, we are giving priority to the State, he said. The expectations are that Rumo should take over another three terminals in the coming months.
The terminal at Barretos is ready to operate with two products at the same time, as it has separate structures for receipt and shipment, both using road and rail transport modals. The current structure allows rail operations with daily loads of trains with up to 85 carriages and a capacity to handle 200 thousand tonnes of products every month.

Considering the current premises, including this new agreement, Rumo will increase their transport capacity to 1 million tonnes of products, including sugar and grain. Within three years, we plan to double this volume, says Mr Fontana.

Last month, Rumo agreed on a long-term contract (ten years) with the São Martinho Mill in the city of Pradópolis (SP), which plans for sugar storage, transfer and transport services between the two companies. According to the terms of the contract as agreed, São Martinho will invest R$ 30 million (€ 13.04 million) on the construction, at their mill in Pradópolis, of a warehouse with a total storage capacity of 60 thousand tonnes of sugar, as well as the modernization of the branch railway line to access the factory unit, which will ensure a transport capacity of up to 2 million tonnes of sugar per year – of which up to 650 thousand tonnes are produced by the sugar mill itself.

The premises of Rumo in Santos have an annual shipment capacity of some 11 million tonnes. The expectations are that the shipment services of Rumo should reach some 7 million tonnes this year.

In July last year, Rumo gained two heavyweight partners – the investment funds Gávea and Texas Pacific Group (TPG), which joined forces with the company. These two investors jointly invested funds of some R$ 400 million (€ 173.81 million), with each partner having 12.5% of the business (25% total), with Cosan holding on to the remaining 75%.