Work at the Louisiana grain elevator facility has been shifted to other Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) export elevators near New Orleans in southeastern Louisiana, said Jackie Anderson, ADM spokesperson. The incident happened last week.
“ADM’s Ama, Louisiana, grain elevator facility was struck by a barge-mounted crane, resulting in damage to the conveyer belt system,” she told us. “There are no injuries reported at this time.”
The cause of the collision is currently under investigation, she said. The full extent of facility damage also continues to be assessed.
The Illinois-headquartered company processes about 231,000 metric tons of corn and soybeans along with about 30,000 metric tons of agricultural processing on a daily basis, it reported.
Grain handling operations in Brazil
The movement of grain operations among facilities in Louisiana is not the only development for ADM in terms of grain handling.
The company also announced last week that it has finished a set of projects aimed at improving its export terminal in the Brazilian state of San Paulo.
The project is expected to improve operational efficiency with the addition of a second ship loading line and a fourth area to unload trucks, the company said. It also expanded the grain and feed ingredient storage from 172,000 to 194,000 metric tons and the annual handling capacity to 8m metric tons from 6m.
Work on the site started in November 2015, and was intended to expand ADM’s footprint in the region, Eduardo Rodrigues, ADM Brazil’s national director for ports and logistics, told us previously.
The enhancement project also focused on improving environmental controls and reducing dust produced during the grain movement process, he said.
New technology involved in the flow and storage of grain reduced dust particle emissions by 80%, the company said.
“Our upgraded terminal in Santos, with increased unloading and loading capabilities, allows us to connect Brazilian grain to world markets more efficiently while setting the industry benchmark for sustainable operations, and creating jobs in the region,” said Scott Fredericksen, president, ADM South America.
ADM started working at the port in 1997 and, more recently, signed an agreement to continue operations through the port into 2037, it said.
“In 20 years, we have expanded to become one of the largest agribusinesses in Brazil,” said Luciano Botelho, ADM’s president, South American Oilseeds. “Our strategic growth projects in Brazil – including the modernization at Santos as well as our ongoing improvement project at the Port of Barcarena – are enhancing our ability to move more crops around the world, and to do so more efficiently and sustainably.”
The company also is building a soy protein production complex in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, near its existing soybean plant, it reported.