Rails get São Martinho and Rumo closer
Valor Econômico
Rumo Logistics, the logistics branch of Cosan, and São Martinho group, one of the largest sugar and alcohol producers in the country, entered into a long-term agreement for ten years, that foresees services in storage, transshipment and transportation of sugar between the two companies. The two companies had already sealed a deal in January last year, in which Rumo began the railway transportation of sugar from one of the plants of the group, installed at Pradópolis (SP). With the success of this first phase, the two companies decided to expand this partnership, which takes effect on the 2011/12 harvest, starting from April and extends until the 2019/20 cycle. The companies did not disclose the contract value for the sale of the commodity.
The São Martinho group will invest R$ 30 million (US$ 17.7 million) to build, in its plant in Pradópolis, a warehouse with capacity of 60 thousand tons of sugar, besides the modernization of the railway access to the factory, what will ensure a capacity of transshipment to the railway of up to 2 million tons of sugar a year - 650 thousand tons of which are produced by the plant itself.
From next year, when the 2012/13 harvest begins, Rumo and São Martinho sart to provide storage to third parties, which should generate a debottlenecking to the plants of the region, which handle a volume between 4.5 million and 5 million tons of sugar cane per cycle up to the port of Santos. "With the expansion of this agreement, we now have another horizon of negotiation between the two companies", said to Valor Júlio Fontana Neto, CEO of Rumo Logistics. The projects of Rumo foresee flow from 11 million to 12 million tons of sugar in the coming years. Through this partnership, São Martinho will ensure the flow of its production in a competitive way and could make the hiring of static storage capacity in the terminal of Rumo in the Port of Santos, in volumes and conditions to be defined for each harvest-year. The expectation is that the return of these investments are paid in less than five years.
Pradópolis unit of São Martinho, alone, is considered the country's largest in cane crushing, with 8.2 million tons per harvest. Sugar production in this unit is 650 thousand tons, of a total of 880 thousand foresee for 2010/11, which ends in March. Of that total, only 50 thousand tons of sugar of the group are traded domestically.
Venturelli reminds that the group's investment will allow the removal of trucks from the highways. Considering the 2 million tons drained by railroad per year, 42 thousand truck trips are no longer made. According to Fontana, Cosan group plants (a total of 23) are still the main customers of Rumo Logistics. But if you consider the contract signed with São Martinho, the group becomes the largest contract of an independent company. Sugar is the main agricultural product sold on the port of Santos, followed by grains - soybean and meal, above all.