Ponta da Madeira is a Brazilian private

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

, a large iron ore loading port in São Luís, in the Northern part of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and one of the only terminals in the country suited for the ultra large

Valemax ''Valemax'' ships are a fleet of very large ore carriers (VLOC) owned or chartered by the Brazilian mining company Vale S.A. to carry iron ore from Brazil to European and Asian ports. With a capacity ranging from 380,000 to 400,000 tons deadwe ...

ships. In 2020, the port of Ponta da Madeira handled 190.1 million tons. It's the national champion in cargo handling. The Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal, owned by mining company Vale, sits next to the public

Porto do Itaqui Port of Itaqui is a Brazilian port located in the city of São Luís, Maranhão. It is not to be confused with the city of Itaqui, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, near the border with Argentina. The main cargoes include aluminum ingots and bars, ...

, in the state of

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

, in northern

. It was chosen as the terminus of the Estrada de Ferro Carajas, where trains unload iron ore for shipping overseas, mainly to Europe and Eastern Asia. The terminal, abutting the Bay of São Marcos (St. Mark) has a natural

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of 26 meters (86 feet) at low tide; 14m (46') tides proved a significant problem due to the strong currents generated, but those were circumvented through the placement of underwater concrete "breakers." The terminal and Itaqui port are still primarily iron ports, but have increasingly also turned to other cargoes, especially bulk agricultural goods. The smallish container patio is dwarfed by the piles and holding areas of the iron wharves, capable of handling ships up to 500m long and 500,000 metric tons in dead weight. In recent years, Vale has announced its intention to build huge steelworks next to the terminal. In 2012, the train journey from the ore mine to the port was featured in an episode of

Countdown to Collision A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

, broadcast by

The Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

. , the port is being expanded to handle large volumes of iron ore from the

S11D S11D, or Serra Sul, is an iron ore mining project undertaken by Vale in Serra dos Carajás, Brazil. It is the largest iron ore mine project in the world, at 90 million tonnes per year. Project The project is a $19.5 billion investment, which is ...

mine near Carajas.

References

External links

Article about the terminal at CVRD site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terminal Maritimo de Ponta da Madeira Ports and harbours of Brazil Buildings and structures in Maranhão São Luís, Maranhão

See also

References

External links