Rumo to expand its operations in Brazil’s Central-West
By installing "train stops" along the North-South Railroad — a backbone in central Brazil that connects Tocantins to São Paulo — Rumo plans to expand ticket sales to the country’s largest agricultural producers starting in 2023.In practice, the "stations" are service delivery terminals built in key municipalities with partners to attract customers within a certain radius. "It’s our selling point. Our ‘little store’," said Pedro Palma, Rumo’s chief commercial officer, about the terminals."We study the local demand and how to meet it, like someone who is going to install a supermarket, and we work with a partner, as in a franchise system, to better serve the final customer in each region," added the executive.After winning the railroad concession, in 2019, the company has set up three terminals: in São Simão and Rio Verde, in Goiás, and in Iturama — the company’s first in Minas Gerais. Not counting investments made by partners, the total reaches R$500 million.Since operations on the North-South railroad — named by Rumo as "Malha Central", or Central Network — began effectively in 2021, cargo circulation has doubled. Last year, 3.4 million tonnes of soybeans, soy meal, and corn were transported. In 2022, with new partnerships signed in sugar and fertilizers, the total volume handled until November reached 7.5 million tonnes.Although he cannot yet detail the next steps, Mr. Palma says that new partnerships are planned and may come off the drawing board as early as 2023. For now, Rumo is studying the installation of two new grain terminals in southern Tocantins and northern Goiás.But for the railroad operation to happen in its entirety in this network, connecting São Paulo to Tocantins, it will be necessary to conclude the stretch in Goiás that connects Rio Verde and Anápolis, which has not been carried out by the federal government. The company wants to finish the work in 2023.Rumo’s plan to gain muscle in the Central-West also includes the construction of a "neighboring" railroad — a stretch that will be the continuation of the so-called "Northern Network" — which will go up the map through Mato Grosso. This railroad (Ferrovia de Integração Estadual) will connect Rondonópolis, where the company already has an important terminal, to Lucas do Rio Verde, and will also reach Cuiabá.It will be the first railroad in the country built by private initiative, says Mr. Palma. With the structure it currently has in Mato Grosso, the logistics operator...
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