Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) has expanded its barge fleet in Paraguay.
The expansion includes 12 new Paraguayan-flagged jumbo barges with total capacity to transport 30,000 tonnes of solid products, representing a 20% increase in Logico Paraguay‘s river fleet, LDC said on 12 August.
Comprising four tugboats and 92 barges, with a total static capacity of 150,000 tonnes and a capacity to transport 1.6M tonnes/year of products, LDC said it expected the expanded fleet to be operational in January 2025.
LDC uses the fleet to transport corn, soyabeans and its derivatives (soyabean meal and soyabean oil) from various ports in Paraguay to ports in Argentina and Uruguay, where they are processed by the company and/or trans-shipped to ocean-going vessels for subsequent shipment to global destinations.
On the return journey to Paraguay, the upstream flow supported the import of other agricultural goods – such as fertilisers – for the domestic market, the company said.
“Our enlarged barge fleet will reinforce our capacity to address growing demand for fluvial freight services, in response to growing international business activities in the region,” LDC Group chief operating officer and head for Latin America Juan José Blanchard said.
Logico Paraguay was established by LDC in 2007 to transport agricultural goods through the Paraná-Paraguay waterway for export to global markets.
