Copersucar doubles sugar contract with FCA
Valor Econômico
Companies of the sugar and alcohol segment rush in order to gain room in the restrict universe of logistics opportunities in the country. On Thursday, Copersucar, leader in the sale of sugar and alcohol in Brazil, announced the extension of the partnership with Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica (FCA), a railway company subsidiary of Vale, and it intends to transport 3 million tons of sugar on its rails until 2015. The first agreement with the railway company, signed in the first quarter of this year, foresaw the shipping of 1.5 million tons of the commodity.
With the partnership, the trading company also aims at transporting 4.5 million tons of sweetener on the railroads in four years, that without considering new partnerships that may arise until then - the company already has a contract with América Latina Logística (ALL) for the carriage of 1.5 million tons. Adding to the projects announced by Copersucar so far to those of Rumo Logística, a company of the Cosan group, it is possible to say Brazil will be transporting 15.5 million tons of sugar by the rail modal in 2015, that is equivalent to 70% of the current volume of the product that is exported by the Mid-South region.
Together, the investments of FCA and Copersucar get near R$ 100 million (US$ 59 million) - besides the R$ 25 million (US$ 14.7 million) already invested by the trading company in the multimodal terminal of Ribeirão Preto (SP), which was structured with a railroad beltway to make the handling of cargo more efficient. Of the total value, nearly R$ 60 million (US$ 35.3 million) will be invested by the FCA in the reform of 500 locomotives and wagons, scheduled to go into operation next year. "The new structure will reduce the loading time of a wagon from 1 hour to ten minutes", says the CEO of railway company, Marcello Spinelli.
The other R$ 40 million (US$ 23.5 million) will be invested by Copersucar in the construction of another two terminals - one in Minas Gerais, probably in Uberlândia, and another in the central region of São Paulo, says Paulo Roberto de Souza, CEO of the trading company. All routes will end in Santos, in the terminal of Copersucar, which in 2011 foresees exporting 6 million tons of sugar - 1 million packed and 5 million in bulk.
After nearly four years operating with sugar, for FCA this contract with Copersucar represents its main operation with the commodity. The company also carries grains, thus the agribusiness is already responsible for 60% of total operations. The partnership with FCA is part of a greater project of Copersucar in logistics foreseeing investing R$ 1.5 billion (US$ 882.4 million) in five years, starting in 2010. Besides alcohol pipeline with Petrobras, the project includes other initiatives such as the enlargement of ethanol transshipment terminal and the increase of the sugar storage capacity.