Located in São João da Barra, in the North Fluminense, the Açu Port was born to drain the iron ore extracted from a mine in Conceição do Mato Dentro, Minas Gerais. Now, ten years after the inauguration, the growth strategy goes through very different areas.
One of them does not sound there the most trivial for a port: data centers.
“We have had several conversations to attract customers of this market, which was not thought at all when Porto was built and started its operations ten years ago,” said Eugênio Figueiredo, CEO of Porto do Açu and this week’s guest of the program Infoomoney Interview.
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It wasn’t in the plans – but why not? Since the inauguration, the Açu – considered the largest private port and industrial complex of deep water in Latin America – has evolved to house diversified operations, including general load terminals, offshore support bases for the oil industry and natural gas thermal plants.
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Originally conceived by businessman Eike Batista, the complex today is belonging to prumo logistics, controlled by the investment funds EIG and Mubadala, and the port of Antwerp-Bruges International.
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Figueiredo points out that Porto has a little of everything a data center needs to operate: it is outside urban clusters, it has water and its own energy generation in abundance, is 40 km from an Embratel fiber submarine cable station.
And it’s big – very big.
“It is a total area of 130 km square, of which 90 km squares form the industrial complex, in which we have two types of operation: the movement of cargo in the port and the rent of areas for customers who want to install their factories or service bases,” says the executive.
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In the second group the installation of data centers fits. For months the board has gathered with potential interested parties. And then, read not the big techs themselves, like Microsoft or Amazon-but, yes, the service providers who work in jail. They are the ones who are evaluating the conditions of Porto, on the one hand, and negotiating contracts with their customers, on the other.
“It has a good chance that by the end of the year, we have any of these processes evolving into a first firm area rental contract. It is very feasible that this occurs in 2025”
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Diversification also reaches agribusiness, a segment that has been gaining space in the port of Açu. Despite the absence of rail connection, Porto has attracted producers from the Midwest, especially from Goiás and Minas Gerais, to export grains such as soy, corn and coffee. The movement of agricultural products, which began with the importation of fertilizers in 2020, should triple in 2025, driven by cooperation agreements with state governments and studies for the construction of dedicated terminals.
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Figueiredo points out that the privileged location of Porto, near the main oil producing fields of the Santos and Espírito Santo basins, allowed the installation of the largest offshore support base in the world, with 16 simultaneous ships positions, surpassing the traditional city of Macaé. Currently, about 40% of the oil exported by Brazil pass through the Açu to some degree or stage of production.
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The vocation for the oil sector is complemented by the growing bet on clean energies, with green hydrogen projects and sustainable fuels developing in the complex.
