Aiming at increasing storage and handling of cargo, Terminal de Containers de Paranaguá (TCP) will invest R$ 370 million until 2023

Investments in the port sector are at full steam! Now, it's time for the Container Terminal of Paranaguá (TCP), which seeks at all costs to increase its storage capacity and in relation to cargo handling by the year 2023

On Monday night (20/06) China Merchants Port, responsible for managing the Container Terminal of Paranaguá (TCP) revealed that the main goal between this year and 2023 is to expand its cargo handling and its storage. For this, the companhia expects to invest around BRL 370 million in the purchase of a crane and larger areas to accommodate refrigerated cargo.

China Merchants Port seeks a 15% increase in cargo handling at the Paranaguá Container Terminal (TCP)

In general, the Chinese company already has a focus, with plans outlined for how and where these millions will be invested. For example, the first acquisition that takes a good part of the money would be the purchase of 11 cranes of the RTG type. These models are commonly used in container shipping.

In fact, if Reporto had not been extended, these targets and investment amounts would probably not be something for a date as close as 2023. Even though the investment itself was a mandatory part of the concession, it was only due to Reporto's tax exemption that the decision was taken and the target set for the next year.

With this, the final objective is to leverage the movement of loads in TCP and increase the current value by 15%. In addition, another part of the amount will be invested in storage. One of the terminal's main cargoes is frozen meat. Therefore, for the numbers to increase, there will be a 43% expansion in this area suitable for refrigerated containers.

Why the rush to make such a huge investment in storage and other areas of the terminal?

During the pandemic period, all sectors were unprepared for the bad period they would face. Same expanding its area in 150 thousand m², it was still not enough. According to the commercial and institutional director, Thomas Lima, “with the pandemic, we had capacity taken right away. All parameters have been changed”.

When the pandemic began, we closely monitored how messy the port sector became. There were closed ports, stopped cargo, ships in queues, lack of containers in several complexes, in addition to crowded warehouses.

However, even with the collapse in the world caused by the pandemic, cargo handling grew at the Container Terminal of Paranaguá. In 2021 alone, TCP achieved an annual increase of 5,9% in relation to the volume of full containers. Despite the “lockdowns” that are taking place in China, making it increasingly difficult to export meat, the data is proving to be positive so far.

For Lima, “the Port of Paranaguá is very focused on agribusiness, being a sector that grows, despite the country's GDP. The world is consuming more meat, and this tends to drive cargo handling.”

Even when “exporters have full warehouses, because slaughter has not stopped”, the executive pointed out. If China does not do any more lockdowns, the normalization of container flow, cargo handling and storage can normalize.