RIO DE JANEIRO: A fire at a fuel-storage facility at Brazil’s Port of Santos burned for a sixth day, restricting access to trucks delivering grains and other goods to the nation’s largest port.
Firefighters managed to extinguish all flames at a facility run by Ultracarga, a unit of Brazilian chemical and fuel-distribution company Grupo Ultra, only to see gasoline in one of the tanks reignite on its own.
Ultracarga officials were not immediately available for comment.
Police and highway operators have blocked much of the truck access to the port, and the Harbor Master has banned ship movements at terminals along the busy Alemoa docks. As a result, ships cannot restock bunker-fuel supplies.
The delays are unlikely to affect soybean and other grain-export volumes this month as the port has ample stocks, industry representatives said on Monday. Santos handles a third of Brazil’s soybean exports, half of corn exports and much of the coffee and sugar shipments.
Port officials, however, said they did not know how long exports can be maintained in the face of truck restrictions.
Trucks heading to the “right,” or City of Santos, side of the port on the Ancient Highway were prevented from entering from midnight (0400 GMT) on Monday, highway operator EcoRodovias said.
The City of Santos mayor’s office plans to keep the entrance closed to most trucks until Friday as firemen contain and clean up after the blaze.
Trucks heading to Guaruja, a city on the “left” side of the ship channel that provides access to the port, can proceed, EcoRodovias said.
The Santos side of the port is home to sugar terminals operated by Copersucar and Cosan SA’s Rumo Logistica. With the cane harvest beginning, Brazil is months away from peak sugar exports.
The Guaruja side is the site of the 6-million-tonne TGG grain terminal operated by ALL-America Latina Logistica SA , Amaggi and Bunge Ltd, as well as sugar terminal TAEG, a 50-50 joint venture between Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Commodities’ Biosev sugar unit.
Six tanks with a combined capacity of 34,000 cubic meters (214,000 barrels) of ethanol and gasoline were damaged after fire first broke out on Thursday, Ultracarga said. Not all the tanks were full at the time the fire broke out. (Reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
