Arauco advances rail and forestry logistics for Brazil's Sucuriu pulp mill
Arauco has begun lifting the 18 beams of a 270-metre rail bridge over the Sao Mateus stream at Inocencia, Mato Grosso do Sul, part of a BRL 2.4bn, 45km spur linking its Sucuriu pulp mill to the Rumo Malha Norte network and on to the Port of Santos. The company has also taken delivery of the first 108 of 254 forestry harvesting machines ordered under a BRL 500m investment, with the first harvesting module due to start in December 2026. Arauco expects to complete the railway and start up the mill, which it describes as the world's largest single-line pulp mill, at the end of 2027.
Why this mattersRail-to-port capacity and a harvesting fleet on the ground remove two of the main execution risks from the end-2027 start-up of Brazil's largest pulp mill.
- Beam lifting on the 270-metre, 18-beam rail bridge over the Sao Mateus stream began in September 2026 and is due to finish by the end of the month
- The rail project carries planned investment of BRL 2.4bn, covering 45km of track to the Rumo Malha Norte network plus 9km inside the industrial site
- Planned operations involve 26 locomotives and 721 wagons, with each train carrying up to 9,600 tonnes of pulp, removing about 190 truck trips a day from local roads
- Arauco has received the first 108 of 254 forestry machines ordered under a BRL 500m investment; the first harvesting module starts in December 2026 and the second in February 2027
- Arauco expects to complete the railway and start up the Sucuriu mill at Inocencia at the end of 2027
- More than 14,000 jobs are expected during construction and about 6,000 in industrial, forestry and logistics roles once operating, out of up to 20,000 opportunities in total
- Delivered machines to date include 26 harvesters, 6 forwarders and 76 support trucks, part of a 254-machine, BRL 500m (USD 97m) fleet
- Ten harvesting modules are planned, with combined capacity of more than 1.1m cubic metres of wood a month
- Full fleet target is 128 harvesters and 50 forwarders alongside the 76 trucks already delivered
- The Sucuriu mill will have rated capacity of 3.5m tonnes of pulp a year once operational
- The overall Projeto Sucuriu investment is put at USD 4bn (BRL 23bn)
- The dedicated rail spur cost is stated at USD 0.5bn (BRL 2.4bn)
- Total Sucuriu project investment is estimated at USD 4.6bn, with 3.5m tonnes/year cellulose capacity
- Target throughput is over 1.1m cubic metres of wood a month, about 13m cubic metres a year
- Around 1,200 workers are expected once all ten harvesting modules are operational
- Total investment in the Sucuriu pulp mill is USD 4.6bn (R$ 25bn)
- Projected capacity is 3.5 million tonnes of pulp a year, built in a single stage
- Arauco has secured 400,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantation to supply the mill
- Civil works on the mill began in April 2026, with first pulp expected in the fourth quarter of 2027
- Mato Grosso do Sul signed a service order for a 125 km gas pipeline from the Gasbol network at Tres Lagoas to the Inocencia site, budgeted at BRL 170m (USD 33m).
- The pipeline is set to start construction in April 2026, be inaugurated in August 2027, and reach stable supply of 50,000 cubic metres a day from July 2028.
- Arauco cites planned biomass power generation of 556 MW at Sucuriu, including 200 MW for export, versus 400 MW previously cited by the state government.
- Construction workforce at the site is currently about 9,500, forecast to peak at 14,000.
- The Sucuriu project reached about 70% physical completion as of September 2026.
- Arauco manages 347,000 hectares in Mato Grosso do Sul for the project, including more than 84,000 hectares of preserved native vegetation.