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Brazil soy trucks line up at Paranagua port
SAO PAULO, Brazil, March 5 - A 40-kilometer line of
soybean trucks formed outside the southern Brazilian
port of Paranagua, federal road police said on
Wednesday, after delays in harvesting the record crop
created a transportation bottleneck.
Paranagua's port authority said that vessels were
loading soy normally at 1,200 tonnes an hour in the
port's soy export corridor, which consists of eight
terminals, but that there was a lack of producer and
exporter storage space, forcing the trucks to be used
as "rolling stores."
"Production is higher, and there's a transport
bottleneck due to rain (which slowed harvesting in
early February)," said Andrea Cordeiro of Parana-based
broker Labhoro.
Policeman Rosmar Custodio Santos said the line on road
BR-277 to Parana state capital Curitiba was growing,
while Cordeiro said there was a risk that the queue of
soy trucks could exceed the 100 km of 2001 and reach
Curitiba.
Transport problems have been increasing for the No. 2
soybean exporter as its production expands. Last week,
the government revised up its soybean crop forecast to
49.65 million tonnes in 2002/03 October/September, an
18 percent increase on last season's previous record
of 41.91 million tonnes.
On Wednesday, two vessels were loading 57,000 tonnes
and 60,000 tonnes of soybeans, respectively, while a
third was due to sail with 30,000 tonnes of soymeal.
Outside the port six vessels were waiting to load
soybeans and four to load soymeal.
Shipping agents Transcar said that six vessels were
scheduled to berth in Paranagua's export corridor
between March 5-17 to load 347,000 tonnes of soybeans.
The vessels were chartered by Bunge, Cargill, Louis
Dreyfus and Archer Daniels Midland for China,
Indonesia, Netherlands and Germany. | |
