With this additional space, the terminal will now have a yard of 300k m². The new area has a static capacity of around 7 thousand containers

Porto Itapoá has received the final approval to use an extra 50 thousand m² of space for its operations

The expansion of the yard at Porto Itapoá has now received permits from IBAMA (the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the Federal Revenue of Brazil and ANTAQ (the National Waterways Transport Agency) and is free to begin work. It consists of an area of 50,000 square meters that, when added to the Terminal’s existing yard, comes to a total of 300,000 square meters.

The additional space provides a static capacity of around seven thousand containers, according to Cássio Schreiner, the president of Porto Itapoá. “This is an important increase to our operational capacity and it will be of benefit to all the supply chains that we handle”, he said.

This is not the final extension of the yard, explained Schreiner. “More than 150,000 square meters of additional yard space is already under construction. This will bring us to a total area of 450,000 square meters.” He also added, “By the end, the yard will allow us to operate at double the current container handling numbers”.

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Piacentini, the construction company responsible for the expansion of the yard at Porto Itapoá, delivered the first stage of the expansion works on August 15. The works in total are the result of a BRL 750 million investment, which began in February 2022. They have created 170 jobs, 98 of which directly.

Investment in infrastructure

With its service capacity expected to grow, Porto Itapoá has been investing in its infrastructure. It has acquired another five RTGs, mobile cranes on wheels, which are suitable for handling containers in the yard. The Terminal already had 17 of these pieces of equipment (manufactured by ZPMC), but the new RTGs will be remotely controlled – Porto Itapoá will be the first port in Brazil with this technology. The machines are due to be delivered in May 2023.

Porto Itapoá has also acquired two Reach Stacker forklifts, which are already in operation and will be used in operations in the Terminal’s yard. The aim is to improve the service between the ship and the yard, and complement operations that use the RTG, a mobile crane that is used within ports to move and stack containers.