Northern Arc ports handled 39% of corn and soybeans in 2024

The ports of the Northern Arc – which includes the ports of the North and Northeast regions above the 16th parallel – exported 39% of all corn and soybean cargo that left the country between January and October of this year. This volume corresponds to 47,7 million tons. The figures were collected from the Waterway Statistics of the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq), which records the country's port movement month by month.

According to the CEO of the Amazon Basin Port Terminals and Cargo Transfer Stations Association (Amport), Flávio Acatauassú (pictured above), the result is even more impressive when considering the severe drought the region has been experiencing in recent months. “We are resilient and prepared to grow even more, even after a period of historic drought that we experienced in the second half of 2024,” he explained.

According to the executive, the growth in exports via Arco Norte is the result of years of intense work in the region, with extensive investments in infrastructure, sustainability and the most modern technology in the sector. “The ports of Arco Norte have shown results that have only grown in the last decade. We have a natural vocation in our region, with wide navigable rivers and we are always investing heavily to improve our services. We are competitive from a logistics standpoint and have expertise in offering more economical and viable solutions for our customers, in addition to combining all of this with sustainability and environmental concerns,” explained the executive.

The region's highlights are Pará and Amazonas. According to data collected in the Antaq bulletin, of all corn and soybean exports shipped via the Northern Arc between January and October, 59,4% were shipped via Amazonian ports, which includes the ports of Pará and Amazonas. If only corn is considered, 80% of all exports from the Northern Arc left via Pará and Amazonas.

“This movement makes us proud and fills us with even more enthusiasm to continue working even harder to grow the sector in the Northern Arc. We currently have an installed capacity of 52 million tons and investments are already underway for another 48 million tons of bulk cargo. In other words, we will have a shipping capacity of around 100 million tons of grains in the next five years. We are prepared for this growing demand and are modernizing ourselves even further to continue growing competitively,” concluded Acatauassú.