US agribusiness co-operative CHS has reached an agreement with Brazilian rail operator Rumo to build and operate a terminal for grain and fertiliser at the Port of Santos, as part of a new 50-50 joint venture.
Located in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the terminal was expected to handle 9M tonnes/year of grain and 3.5M tonnes/year of fertilisers, CHS said on 8 August.
“Brazil is a growing producer and shipper of crops … and this project creates long-term value for our US-based owners by strengthening the position of CHS as a … supplier of grains and oilseeds,” CHS ag business and CHS Hedging executive vice president John Griffith said.
Once regulatory approval and other protocols had been completed, CHS said construction of the new terminal was estimated to take about 30 months.
Located on the São Paulo state’s coastline, the Port of Santos is the largest in Latin America connecting more than 600 ports in 125 countries. It is also the most important foreign trade route in Brazil with almost 27% of the country’s trade balance (US$112.3bn) passing through the port, according to Santos Port Authority.
CHS has 230 grain storage facilities and total licensed grain storage capacity of 403M bushels, according to Sosland Publishing Co’s 2024 Grain & Milling Annual.
Active in 65 countries, its services include crop inputs, crop protection products, animal products, grain marketing services and risk management services.
The co-operative also operates petroleum refineries and pipelines and manufactures, markets and distributes refined fuels, lubricants, propane and renewable energy products.
According to its website, Rumo is the largest independent railway logistics operator in Brazil and manages about 14,000km of railways across the country and has an asset base consisting of 1,400 locomotives and 35,000 wagons.
The company also has nine trans-shipment terminals along its network and six port terminals in the main Brazilian ports.
Responsible for moving 24% of the volume of grains exported by Brazil, the company transported more than 49M tonnes of products in 2023.
