Port of Paranagua Loads Vessel with Record Amount of Soy Meal

The Port of Paranagua in southeastern Brazil set a record last week by loading 107,717 tons of soybean meal in a single vessel. The vessel, Maran Astronomer, docked last Monday at the port and the loading operation took four days to complete. The soybean meal is destined for Holland and Poland.

The vessel is one of the largest gain vessels to dock at the port and it is 292 meters long, 45 meters wide, and has nine holds. The soybean meal came from five different terminals – Cargill, Coamo I, Coamo II, Cotriguacu, and Silos Publicos.

Maran Astronomer broke its own record set last year when it loaded 103,400 tons of soybean meal. Up until this point, in addition to Maran Astronomer, only two other vessels loaded more than 100,000 tons at the port. The other two were E.R. Bayonne which loaded 103,400 tons in July of 2020 and Pacific Myra which loaded 105,000 tons in April of 2021.

In recent years, the Port of Paranagua has invested millions of dollars to expand and modernize their operations so larger vessels can be loaded more efficiently. The various grain terminals at the port are now connected to an integrated conveyor system that allows one vessel to be loaded from various grain terminals without having to move the vessel.

Port officials felt they had to modernize their operations in order to remain competitive with new ports operating in Brazil’s “Northern Arc” of ports on the Amazon River and along Brazil’s northeastern Atlantic coast.

Tags: Brazil, Poland, soybean meal, Port of Paranagua, vessel, Holland