By Redação PortalPortuario
Moegão, the largest public port work in Brazil, reached 75.1% completion, according to technical measurements taken in the first half of October. So far, 83.17% of the civil part (physical structure), 80.33% of the mechanical part, and 48.93% of the electrical part have been completed. According to the schedule, total completion should occur by January 2026.
After entering into operation, Moegão will be able to receive 24 million tons of grains and meal per year, serving the terminals of the East Export Corridor (Corex).
Moegão is a project that will make a big difference in the present, but which also prepares the Port of Paranaguá for the future. “We are anticipating the increase in cargo movement that will arrive here due to the investments in the expansion of the railway mode that will occur soon. Paranaguá will not be a bottleneck for receiving trains,” says the CEO of Portos do Paraná, Luiz Fernando Garcia.
The Government of the State of Paraná, through Portos do Paraná, is investing more than R$ 650 million in the construction of Moegão, with its own resources and funds applied from the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES). In terms of investments, Moegão is equivalent to almost two Guaratuba bridges — another major work carried out by the state government.
Currently, on average, 550 wagons can be unloaded daily at the export terminals. With Moegão, this process will be standardized at a single unloading point: 180 wagons can be unloaded every five hours — which is equivalent to approximately 900 wagons per day. The vegetable bulk will follow conveyor belts to 11 terminals interconnected to the system and, from there, to the ships.
As the railway compositions will no longer need to enter the warehouses to unload, the maneuvers, which are currently necessary, will cease to exist. The number of crossings with interruptions on the access roads to the port area will drop from 16 to five.
Connecting projects
Moegão is not an isolated structure. The project integrates a set of works and investments that are underway and that will enhance cargo operations at the Port of Paranaguá, which is already a reference worldwide.
Among the terminals connected to Moegão are the areas leased through auctions. Since 2019, Portos do Paraná has already auctioned 09 port areas and brought R$ 5.1 billion in investments, ensuring regularization of the areas, legal security for public-private partnerships, and significant investments for the modernization and expansion of port infrastructure.
“T” Pier
The April 2025 auctions — for PARs 14, 15, and 25 — will ensure the construction of the “T” Pier, which will also be connected to Moegão. Of the total R$ 2.2 billion that the lessees will invest, R$ 1.2 billion will be allocated to the work, which will have four new docking berths. Furthermore, the State Government will make an additional contribution of R$ 1 billion.
The new pier will have an ultramodern conveyor belt system, which will take the products from the terminals to the ships’ holds at high speed.
The current system moves about 3 thousand tons of soybeans or other grains and bran every hour; with the new structure, this volume will increase to 8 thousand tons per hour.
The vessels will also be larger than the current ones, allowing for an increase in cargo movement, a reduction in operational costs, and an increase in the Port’s competitiveness.
Access channel
This transformation will only be possible with the concession of the access channel, carried out on the 22nd of last month, through an auction on B3. The consortium that won the dispute will have to deepen the channel, thus allowing for an increase in the draft, which is the distance between the deepest point of the ship and the water surface. The current draft is 13.3 meters and will become 15.5 meters within five years.
Currently, ships load up to 78 thousand tons of grains or bran. With the new draft, a ship can leave Paraná carrying up to 125 thousand tons. “It is a significant gain in the competitiveness of the Port of Paranaguá,” highlights Garcia.
With the concession, the maritime access to the Port will also feature the VTMIS (Vessel Traffic Management and Information System) — Sistema de Gerenciamento e Informação do Tráfego de Embarcações —, which guarantees more safety for navigation, human life, and the environment.
The installation of the VTMIS will also bring important gains to the work of the pilots — professionals responsible for guiding ships from the entrance of the channel to docking — making the process even more agile and safe.
