A fire that destroyed a conveyor belt and electric systems at the Tiplam terminal in the port of Santos, Brazil's largest, caused a suspension of sugar loading on piers 2 and 3 on that terminal, according to a note from the company.
The fire broke out on Thursday night on the site and was controlled on Friday morning. There were no victims, but the destruction of the conveyor belt stopped loadings in the berths, said the note to clients of VLI, the company managing the terminal. The note was seen by Reuters.
Damage to the electrical infrastructure at the terminal also caused the company to suspend unloading of trains arriving at the port by rail with sugar and other products.
The company did not give an estimate for resuming operations at the terminal in the note to clients. VLI press representatives were expected to answer a request for comment later on Friday.
According to line-up data from shipping agency Williams, Tiplam was expected to load 13 vessels with 800,000 metric tons of sugar in the coming two weeks. Most of them would sail to China, with trader Wilmar the most active shipper in that terminal.
(Reuters - Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
