The UK Club have received the folowing update from local correspondents, Representacoes Proinde Ltda, providing practical guidance for Members on Brazil's Northern Arc ports. 

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Recent years have witnessed progressive competitiveness of Brazilian commodities, mainly soya beans and corn (maize), which exports have exceeded those of traditional grain producers, such as the United States and Argentina, making Brazil the world's largest exporter of these agricultural products.

Successive record crops and the increasing demands of the consumer markets, principally China, have led to increasingly bottlenecks in the already overburdened grain ports in the South and Southeast regions, resulting in higher transportation costs and longer journeys from production areas, leading exporters to seek more viable logistics alternatives elsewhere in Brazil.

The federal administration inaugurated last January is committed to unleashing projects to improve the national transport infrastructure and streamline procedures and requirements for the participation of the private section in new logistics ventures in the country. Major grain producers and traders are investing heavily in cargo handling facilities and port terminals to improve the flow of commodities to overseas ports. The bulk of these investments are being made in ports across the still-in-development in northern part of the country, more precisely in the region known as Arco Norte (Northern Arc), which covers the ports in the North and Northeast regions that are closer to large producing areas in central Brazil and are becoming a competitive alternative for exports to countries in the Northern Hemisphere and Asia via the Panama Canal.

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Members can read the full practical guidance here.