BRASILIA: Truck access to the Port of Santos, Brazil’s largest, was further restricted as a result of a fire that raged for five days in a fuel depot near the port.
While the restrictions are slowing new deliveries, they are not affecting export volumes of soybeans and other grains as the port has ample stocks, industry representatives said. Santos handles a third of Brazil’s soybean exports, half its of corn exports and much of the country’s coffee and sugar shipments.
“Anything that happens at Santos is cause for worry, but the fire has not altered anything with regard to the April export outlook,” said Sergio Mendes, executive director of the National Cereals Exporters’ Association, Anec.
Trucks heading to the “right”, or City of Santos, side of the port on the Anchieta Highway were prevented from entering at midnight on Monday, highway operator EcoRodovias said.
The Santos mayor’s office later said it planned to keep the entrance closed to trucks until Friday while firemen finished containing and cleaning up the blaze.
Trucks heading to Guaruja, another city on the “left” side of the channel that provides access to the port, are being allowed to proceed, Sao Paulo’s transport regulator said.
A spokesman for the port authority said Santos was well-stocked with grains but did not know how long it could guarantee exports with restricted truck access to the port.
The Santos side of the port is home to massive sugar terminals operated by Copersucar and Cosan SA’s Rumo. With the cane harvest just beginning, Brazil is months away from peak sugar export season.
The unaffected Guaruja side is home to 6-million-tonne grains terminal TGG, operated by ALL, Amaggi and Bunge Ltd and the sugar terminal TAEG, a 50-50 joint venture between Cargill Inc and Biosev, the sugar unit of Louis Dreyfus Commodities.
