The start of Yara's cabotage fertilizer operation will bring a series of benefits to the Matopiba region, which will be supplied with the company's product and will be able to take advantage of it to boost agribusiness in the area.

Last Monday (01/08), the plant nutrition company Yara started its first cabotage operation of bulk fertilizers in Brazilian territory. Thus, the products left the Rio Grande region, in Rio Grande do Sul, and will arrive at the São Luís Mixing Unit, located in the state of Maranhão, to serve as a source of supply for farmers in the Matopiba region (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia).

Yara's first bulk fertilizer cabotage operation in Brazil will benefit agribusiness in the Matopiba region with the arrival of products 

The company Yara is the largest company in Brazil in the field of plant nutrition and took another step towards its growth in the Brazilian market this week, when it carried out its first cabotage operation, that is, transport of cargo between national ports, with bulk fertilizers. About 15 tons of the YaraBasa special fertilizer line, made up of NP and NPK, left the company's Rio Grande pier to reach the São Luís Mixing Unit. 

Thus, the ship that is carrying out cabotage of bulk cargo will travel along the entire Brazilian coast and is expected to arrive in the capital of Maranhão during the next 7 days, to meet the demand in the Matopiba region, in particular the production of soy in agribusiness Of region.

The Matopiba area planted about 8,2 million hectares in the 2020/21 harvest, according to Conab, and has strong projections of growth in these numbers for the next harvest of 2022, thus requiring more resources for planting.

“This cabotage shipment of fertilizers to Maranhão brings several benefits, such as access to farmers in the North and Northeast regions to Yara's special fertilizer lines, especially during a critical moment of ruptures in supply chains due to the war. The Fronteira Norte market is the fastest growing in terms of planted area in the country, and now we will have one more supply option for the region, with a national product”, commented Maicon Cossa, Commercial Vice President of Yara Brasil. 

Bulk fertilizer transport operation via cabotage guarantees the company cost reduction, speed and sustainability in the port sector 

The Matopiba region primarily carries out fertilizer import operations for its internal supply and, with the Yara operation carried out this week, the area's market may benefit from a domestic product.

In addition, cabotage for the transport of bulk cargo also guarantees more quality and operational efficiency, since the logistics between the portos do Brasil ends up becoming more optimized, thus requiring less time to complete the transport. 

Thus, Maicon reinforced the issue of speed and said that a load of 15 thousand tons, for example, taking the same route that Yara will take this week, would need 405 trucks to carry out the journey of more than 3 thousand kilometers via highways, but this operation can be completed in just 7 days with cabotage. Thus, this transport also requires less operating costs and reduces the emission of polluting gases because it is faster. 

Cabotage should continue to expand in the port sector, especially after BR do Mar, which guaranteed the reduction of the AFRMM fee (Additional to Freight for Renewal of the Landmark Navy), and other regions besides Matopiba may benefit from Yara's fertilizers.