Rumo and Coopercitrus enter into partnership
Valor Econômico
Rumo Logística, arm of the Cosan group for the carriage of grain and sugar, has entered into an agreement with Coopercitrus, one of the most traditional cooperatives of São Paulo for the establishment of a new company that will explore the Coopercitrus terminal in Barretos (SP). The new company intends to reactivate the rail line that runs beside the terminal, told Valor Júlio Fontana, CEO of Rumo. The new company - TB S.A (Barretos Terminal) - will have 50% of interest each in the business. The agreement also foresees TB will have the purchase option of the terminal in the coming years.
Rumo will offer its structure for the railway transportation of sugar from the terminal to the port of Santos. As regards Coopercitrus, it will provide the structure of its cargo terminal that has static capacity for the storage of 130 thousand tons of sugar or grains. "This region is strategic for Rumo, since it is near large sugar producing plants of Ribeirao Preto [the main producer center of São Paulo]", said Fontana. The municipality of Barretos has nearly 65 thousand hectares of sugarcane crops, besides the great growth potential in the cultivation of grains.
With the agreement, Rumo starts controlling five terminals in the State - Sumaré, Jaú, Pradópolis, Barretos and Tirapina, which is under construction. "We have studied terminals outside São Paulo, but at the moment we are prioritizing the State", he said. The expectation is that Rumo incorporates three other terminals in the coming months. The terminal of Barretos is ready to operate with two products simultaneously, since it has separate loading and unloading structures, both with road and rail modals. The current structure allows the railway operation, with the loading of daily trains with up to 85 wagons and capacity to operate up to 200 thousand tons of product a month.
Considering the current installations, including this new agreement, Rumo will increase its carriage capacity to 1 million tons of products, between sugar and grains. "In three years, we intend to double that volume", said Fontana.
Last month, Rumo closed a long-term contract (ten years) with the São Martinho plant, of Pradópolis (SP), which foresees services in storage, transshipment and transportation of sugar between the two companies. According to the contract, São Martinho will invest R$ 30 million (US$ 17.7 million) in the erection, in its Pradópolis plant, of a warehouse with capacity for 60 thousand tons of sugar, besides the modernization of the railway branch of access to the plant, which will assure transshipment capacity to the railroad of up to 2 million tons of sugar a year - of which, up to 650 thousand tons are produced by the very plant.
The premises of Rumo in Santos have an annual capacity for the loading of more than 11 million tons. The expectation is that Rumo flows nearly 7 million tons this year. In July last year, two heavy-weight partners joined Rumo - the investment funds Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Gávea. The two investors together invested R$ 400 million (US$ 235.3 million), each staying with 12.5% of interest (25% in total). Cosan withholds the other 75%.