Brazil's Paranagua Shed 201 berth in new delay after fire: agency

A terminal in the Brazilian port of Paranagua that had been closed after a fire earlier this week is now expected to resume activities by November 4, shipping agency Cargonave has said in a note to clients Tuesday.

The agency had previously passed on advice that operations could restart on Thursday, November 2, after inspections were carried out on Monday, October 30.

"Port Administration just informed that the authorization to resume the operation at Shed 201, which was expected for November 2, was revoked," the agency's note said.

However, the update cited a delay as port administrators wait for "the green light from some other authorities responsible for checking the main structures." 

The new restart date still needs to be officially confirmed.

A fire broke out late Saturday night and early Sunday morning and destroyed approximately 400 meters of conveyor belts at berth 201, which accommodates operations of both Cavalca Port Administration (CAP) and Bunge, according to a note to clients from shipping agency Williams Brazil.

CAP and Bunge have separate operations at the berth.

While Bunge's terminal was not damaged by the fire and its operations were only partially affected, the CAP terminal has been shut down and has no clear timeline for reopening.

“Our unloading operations are currently halted until the port authorities and the Fire Department complete their damage assessment," Bunge said in a statement, adding that their exports were not affected.

Three Cargill vessels that were loading or about to load in the CAP terminal before the fire with an estimated joint cargo of 185,600 mt of soybeans - at least 116,000 mt bound to China - have been redirected to other terminals, sources said.

While berth 201 is mainly used for exports of sugar, there were four vessels waiting to load soybeans, including three from Cargill and one from Cofco, according to Cargonave line-up data.

Portos do Paraná, the public company that administers the ports of Paranaguá and Antonina, said in a note that operations at berth 201 are being carried out "in direct loading and unloading mode", using vessel cranes.

"The automated boarding system, via conveyor belt, should be normalized in the coming days", Portos do Paraná said, without giving a date.

According to the company, only two ships that were scheduled for berth 201 were relocated to another berth in the Port of Paranaguá.

"The other eight ships will embark at berth 201 via the Bunge terminal", the company said. 

Global importers have started to ask exporters to exclude Paranagua loading for 2024 shipments, a Brazil-based source said.

The port of Paranagua, one of Brazil’s key routes for exporting soybeans, corn and soy products to global markets, has been facing severe headwinds for several months.

The fire came as excessive rains had already been adding to large shipping delays resulting from the combination of soybean and corn volumes competing for port capacity.