State-owned shipping company Belgrano Freight and Logistics last month operated the first train carrying mining supplies from Chennault in Buenos Aires province to Olacabato, located in Salta province in northwestern Argentina.
The inaugural train carrying 1,500 tons of supplies, including reagents, mining equipment and spare parts, ran 1,600 kilometers from Chennault to Olakabato, located on line C14 of the 1,000 mm Belgrano network. Line C14 runs from Salta to Sucumba on the border with Chile. Rising to 4,334 meters above sea level, it is one of the highest railway lines in the world.
The province of Salta has long been known for its reserves of lithium, copper, gold and borate, and exports most of its production west by rail to the port of Antofagasta in Chile. The new flow brings mining supply equipment from Argentina’s industrial heartland to high-altitude mines and makes Chennault an increasingly important transshipment hub in the national mining logistics network.
The integration of railways into mining production enables the sector to transport large quantities of raw materials and key components needed to install and operate mining projects, an expensive process that requires significant investments. At the same time, transporting freight by rail not only reduces costs, but also reduces the carbon footprint of mining.
Belgrano Freight and Logistics sees the mining sector as a key driver of future traffic growth, with the company’s president, Alejandro Nunez, joining his management team to speak at recent industry conferences in San Juan and Catamarca.
“Logistics should be considered a core component of the mining production process, and should not be treated as an afterthought,” Nunez says.
“That’s why we celebrate these types of shipments, which are an essential part of mining operations.”
New grain fleet
Separately, Belgrano Freight and Logistics has taken delivery of the second and final batch of 90 new grain hopper wagons provided by China Machinery Engineering Association (CMEC), part of an order for 180 wagons placed in 2023. The US$22 million contract was privately funded by Chinese agricultural commodity distributor COFCO International, Viterra and the Argentine Cooperative Association (ACA).
The new wagons will have a payload capacity of 55 tons each and will increase capacity by 400,000 tons per year on Belgrano services linking grain producers in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Cordoba, Chaco, Tucuman, Santiago del Estero, Salta and Jujuy to the port of Rosario.
The cars will be formed into four trains of 45 cars each, transported by locomotives comprehensively overhauled in the Belgrano workshops in Cordoba under an agreement between the freight operator and the grain shippers.
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