From APROSOJA (www.aprosoja.com.br) Bing Translated
Link to original Portuguese version:
http://www.aprosoja.com.br/comunicacao/release/empresa-da-transoceanica-entende-mais-sobre-mato-grosso

(When Brazil ramped up its ethanol production in 2006 to meet US demand to replace MTBE in US gasoline, several railroad projects and a few pipeline proposals were floated to meet the investment/transportation demand. As far as I know, none was ever completed. Brazil has struggled with its rail system for decades and the Ferronorte project connecting Mato Gross with other parts of Brazil still is not complete. Perhaps this project can get off the ground, due to Chinese money, interest, and technical skill. If they can build a 20-mile highway across the bay of Shanghai to reach a new container port, I suppose a railroad across the Andes is possible. The photo attached showing a Chilean train moving chemicals from the plant above it shows the immensity of the Andes. The photo is from French photographer Jean-Marc Frybourg, who gave me permission to post it (He can be reached at jmfrybourg@sfr.fr and more of his photos can be seen at railpictures.net). He says there is a belief that the railroad may go through the Huancayo Pass in the Andes. Two photos of trains in the area can be seen here: Trains in Huancayo Pass. Wayne)

Logistics

Transocean company learns more about Mato Grosso

9/14/2015

The delegation of the Association of Producers of Soybeans and Corn in Mato Grosso (Aprosoja) gathered in this second week (14) with the China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Corporation Ltd. (CREEC), in Beijing. The company is responsible for the feasibility study of the Transoceanic Railway (or Bioceânica), that will connect Brazil to Peru. This time, the Chinese asked the questions. The interest is in whether there is demand for agricultural products for the railroad. The Executive Director of the Pro-Life Movement logistics, Ashwani Vaz Ferreira, gave a presentation on the ports of the northern arc and showed the need for investments in infrastructure.

Aprosoja’s President, Ricardo Tomczyk, explained that Mato Grosso has the capacity to increase its production to 150 million tonnes, and the ports of Arco Norte can only receive 70 million tons. “A railroad would be very important to help in agricultural production,” he says. Among the questions, the Chinese wanted to know about the size of the ships sailing in the Amazon River and the transshipment of cargo price in the country. The timeline for the railroad’s delivery of the feasibility study is May 2016 and, if approved, early work in 2018 and completing seven years later.

TOMCZYK reminded the Chinese directors obstacles in the release of environmental permits for the work. According to the directors, the company’s report takes into account licenses and the plan is to avoid the sensitive points. If this is not possible, will make the environmental compensation.”Our suggestion is that the Chinese Government and the company let the Brazilian Government see the need for agility in this point. Any engineering challenge is bigger than the issuance of these licenses, “said the President of Aprosoja.

The Vice President of the international business Department of the company, Jessica Jiang, believes this will be a multi project benefit. “The railroad will solve part of the demand for agricultural products in Asia and the disposal of products from Brazil”.

Railroad -the railroad will have a total of 4,200 Transoceanic km long. In Brazil, will have 3,200 km and will of Campinorte (MT) to Cruzeiro do Sul (AC). In Mato Grosso, are 1,400 km with two focus cities, Lucas do Rio Verde and Agua Boa.

Currently, there are 120 people working on the project in China. There’s an Office in Brasilia that, for now, has five Chinese officials. When the works start effectively, the number of employees should increase in Brazil. The investment in the railroad was not released by the company, but the directors have indicated that they expect the financial returns occur in ten years.