Agribusiness Giant News

For centuries, riverside communities, including the "quilombola" descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped from plantations and ranches, have shared Xingu Island in Brazil's Amazon Basin.Its inhabitants live in brightly painted wooden houses overlooking rivers where small boats crisscross between islands and Abaetetuba city on the mainland to trade fish, seeds and fruits gathered from the Amazon forest in their backyard.In 2016, however, strangers docked on Xingu Island, in Para state…

Danish investment company J. Lauritzen announced it has ordered a third methanol dual-fuel bulk carrier from Japan's Tsuneishi Shipbuilding in an expansion of its partnership with U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill.The vessel will be a sister ship to the two 81,200 dwt Kamsarmax bulkers ordered by J. Lauritzen in April.The ships will be fully owned by Lauritzen NexGen Shipping and be operated by Cargill for a minimum period of seven years.Each will be capable of trading with zero…

The Flying Buttress once glided across the oceans carrying vital commodities like grain to all corners of the world.Now it bears a different treasure: Paw Patrol Movie Towers, Batmobile Transformers and Baby Alive Lulu Achoo dolls.The dry bulk cargo ship has been drafted into the service of retail giant Walmart, which is chartering its own vessels in an effort to beat the global supply chain disruptions that threaten to torpedo the retail industry's make-or-break holiday season."Chartering vessels is just one example of investments we've made to move products as quickly as possible," said Joe Metzger, U.S. executive vice president of supply-chain operations at Walmart…

Among transportation planners, “resilience”, describing the ability to bounce back from adversities, both economic and other, has become a top consideration as we increasingly must “expect the unexpected.” The U.S. waterway system, covering the network of inland rivers and coastwise waterways, has seen a mix of good and not so good. As the 2020-2021 pandemic moves toward winding down, a recovery from the dismal 2020 is underway, but activity on the rivers is uneven. Ken Eriksen…

Cargill, one of the world's biggest charterers of ships, has cut nearly 1.5 million tonnes of gross carbon emissions from its fleet since 2017, a top company executive said, as it steps up efforts to go green.With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions.The United Nations aims to reduce the industry's greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2008 levels by 2050. This target will require the swift development…

A lack of orders for new ships is providing further support to the dry bulk freight market as demand for commodities accelerates, a senior executive at U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill said.The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities such as grain, iron ore, cement, coal and fertilizer, has rallied close to an 11-year high this week, helped by rising rates for larger capesize ships.Shipping officials say orders for new vessels are…

The U.S. towing and tug business is 5,500 boats, more than 31,000 barges with an estimated total impact on U.S. GDP of $33.8 billion.“At a macro level, the bigger ships are causing downward pressure on the ship assist business because there are fewer ship calls given the increased capacity of these vessels. However, certain ports have seen tremendous growth, based on strategic location and infrastructure investments that have attracted these larger ships and been a net plus for these areas.”Kate Fuhrman…

Farm supplier CHS Inc has dozens of loaded barges trapped on the flood-swollen Mississippi River near St. Louis - about 500 miles from the company's two Minnesota distribution hubs.The barges can't move - or get crucial nutrients to corn farmers for the spring planting season - because river locks on the main U.S. artery for grain and fertilizer have been shuttered for weeks. High water presents a hazard for boats, barges and lock equipment.Railroads have also been plagued by delays from winter weather and flooding in the western Midwest…

Canada needs to invest in shipping more grains and oilseeds off the West Coast as harvests get larger, to avoid the massive transportation backlogs that followed last year's record crops, industry officials said on Wednesday. Last year, 19.3 million metric tons of grain moved in bulk and containers combined through Port Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, the country's biggest port, which connects Canadian commodities with Asian buyers, according to the port. But handling Canadian…