Rio de Janeiro by blocktrain
ICTSI has followed up its takeover of a terminal near the city of Barra Mansa by establishing a rail subsidiary of its own to handle railfreight options.
It all started with terminals for ICTSI Rio Brasil, a terminal operator that recently took out a long-term lease on the Floriano Intermodal Terminal in Barra Mansa, in the south of the Brazilian federal state of Rio de Janeiro. The intermodal facility, located in an industrial cluster approximately 150 km from the port of Rio de Janeiro, mainly handles containerised freight and steel products destined for industrial operators in the south of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Even though the latter is one of the smallest of Brazil’s 27 states, it has the third-longest coast line (behind Bahía and Maranhão) and it’s more than 16 million inhabitants make it the third-most densely populated state. The region is something of a logistics hot-spot.
Creating its own modal split
The fact that the products that are handled in the terminal are most suited to transport by railway prompted ICTSI Rio Brasil to set up a company of its own – IRB Logística – to operate the Multitex Logistica terminal from 1 July onwards. The railway subsidiary IRB Logística will manage goods traffic to and from the important centres of trade and industry in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo.
“We’re pleased that IRB Logística has already managed to commence operations. Even though ICTSI Rio Brasil’s and IRB Logística’s business activities are carried out independently, we share the common goal of driving economic growth forward in the entire region and offering more efficient solutions with greater added value along the entire logistics chain,” as ICTSI Rio Brasil managing director Roberto Lopes said.
The terminal can welcome 70 railway wagons, has a yard where containers can be stored and stuffed, as well as boasting an extensive roofed-in area that has been designed to store an array of finished products. The 3.4 ha port is completely solar-powered and runs a fleet of handling vehicles that are also operated exclusively by electricity. ICTSI makes sure that it adheres strictly to its important sustainability strategy in Brazil too.
