The Trafigura and Mubadala Capital groups are reportedly selling their participation in Porto Sudeste, an iron ore sea terminal located in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Ten years ago, the port was acquired by the investors from MMX Mineração e Metalicos, the iron ore project of the tycoon Eike Batista, at that time severely hit by financial debt.
The port has a shipping capacity of 50 million mt per year but was limited to a volume of 26.4 million mt last year and 17.4 million mt in 2022, a sub-utilization derived from the lack of clients, as the major iron ore exporters have their own logistics, including Vale, Anglo American and CSN Mining.
Although Trafigura, Mubadala and Porto Sudeste did not make comments on the subject, sources of the companies quoted by the local press mentioned that Mubadala, the sovereign fund of Abu Dhabi, has plans to invest the proceeds of the sale in a plant in the state of Bahia to produce alternative fuels of vegetal origin.