Vale SA announced it will invest $2.9 billion to increase capacity at the Ponta da Madeira Port Terminal in Sao Luis, Brazil. Vale is one of the world’s largest mining companies. As one of the biggest users of Brazil’s port system, in 2010 Vale exported 294.4 million metric tons of iron ore and pellets.

Ponta da Madeira Port Terminal (TPPM) in São Luís will become the country’s leading port in terms of cargo handling capacity and volume in 2012. Besides handling more iron ore, Ponta da Madeira will become an important transport hub for soy and corn produced in the Northeast (mainly Maranhão and Piauí), North (Tocantins) and Center-West regions, using a new route provided by the North-South Railroad (FNS), operated by Vale and interconnected with the Carajás Railroad (EFC).

The port will be an alternative to the three major ports of the South and Southeast regions, in Rio Grande (Rio Grande do Sul), Paranaguá (Paraná) and Santos (São Paulo). To transform Ponta da Madeira into the country’s largest port, Vale will invest US$2.9 billion to increase capacity, by installing a new pier (Pier IV), dredging to increase the water depth (the port is already one of the world’s deepest), and double tracking a 115-kilometer stretch of the EFC.

Pier IV will raise Ponta da Madeira Port Terminal’s annual handling capacity to 150 million tons in 2012. It will be able to receive and load two ships simultaneously. Intended for large vessels, the pier will be used by ships of between 150,000 and 400,000 tons. Ponta da Madeira is already one of the largest ports in the world and the only one that can fully load the 346,000-ton bulk carrier Berge Stahl, and now Vale Brasil.

Ponta da Madeira Port Terminal is a private port belonging to Vale. Opened in 1986, it is located in the Itaqui Port Complex on the eastern bank of São Marcos Bay, on São Luis Island, Maranhão. The terminal has three piers. Pier I has a depth of 23 meters and a berth length of 330 meters. It is able to receive very large ships such as Vale Brasil, the world’s biggest ore carrier, which has a 400,000-ton capacity, 362-meter length and 65-meter width.

In 2010, TPPM handled 99.1 million tons of iron ore and general cargo, up from 91.7 million tons in 2009.