TCP accompanied the municipality’s development in recent decades and doubled its movement in seven years
Paranaguá celebrates its 378th anniversary this Wednesday, July 29, and TCP, the company that manages the Paranaguá Container Terminal, celebrates the date by reinforcing a feeling that drives its operation: the pride of being parnanguara (from Paranaguá). All this growth of the Terminal accompanies, in the same proportion, the expansion of the city.
In 2018, TCP handled the equivalent of 813,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and, in 2025, this number reached 1.663 million TEUs—doubling in seven years—generating a trade flow that totaled R$ 28 billion between exports and imports. This result placed TCP for the second consecutive year in the position of the largest port terminal in Southern Brazil, according to the ranking of the National Agency for Waterway Transportation (ANTAQ).
In exports, for example, TCP accounts for 47% of all Brazilian chicken meat shipments, which means that practically one out of every two chickens exported by Brazil passes through Paranaguá before heading abroad. In addition to animal protein, the Terminal is the gateway for important agribusiness chains, connecting Paraná and other regions of the South, Southeast, and Midwest of Brazil to the main international markets.
As operations advance, job creation at the Terminal also follows an upward trajectory and, in the last five years alone, TCP expanded its workforce by 20%, growing from around 1,300 to more than 1,600 employees. To accelerate the number of hires, the Terminal also began looking for new talent through job fairs promoted by the National Employment System (Sine) in Paranaguá. In the latest action, 15 new hires were made, and new job fairs with opportunities to join TCP are expected to take place later this year.
For Rafael Stein Santos, TCP’s institutional and legal superintendent, Paranaguá’s anniversary also symbolizes a shared development path between the city and the Port. “Paranaguá has always found one of its main engines of development in port activity. Over the last few years, the city has grown, the Port has modernized, and the Paranaguá Container Terminal has accompanied this transformation. Therefore, TCP is very proud to be part of this history and to contribute to the municipality continuing to connect the Brazilian market to the world,” he states.
This growth also translates into investments. In the last five years, TCP invested more than half a billion reais in equipment and infrastructure, including the purchase of new terminal trucks and yard cranes, the modernization of the gate, and the expansion of the area for refrigerated container storage, in addition to initiatives aimed at decarbonizing the operation, such as the electrification of equipment and the acquisition of two electric buses. For the next three years, more than R$ 300 million are already planned for new investments, which should generate an increase in operations and new jobs.
Pride of being parnanguara
For those born in Paranaguá, port activity has been part of the landscape and daily routine from an early age. This was the case for Rafael Machado, warehouse manager at TCP. He grew up watching the ships arrive and the trains cross Paranaguá, fueling the dream of one day working at the Port. “This has always been a childhood dream. Being part of a company like TCP is a source of pride and responsibility, knowing that it values the worker and generates jobs that move the city, the state, and Brazil,” he says.
For Machado, the Terminal’s growth is felt in the city’s day-to-day life. “The more operations, the more jobs; the higher the volume, the more money circulates in the local economy, creating opportunities and generating investments in qualification and social projects. When the Port grows, the city grows with it,” he says.
In the evaluation of Felipe de França, human resources manager at TCP, this is a structural movement within the company. “We invest in training local professionals through young apprentice, internship, and technical training programs. Many employees started in entry-level roles and today occupy leadership positions. It is proof that it is possible to grow professionally without leaving Paranaguá,” he says.
The commitment to the city also includes more than 20 ongoing socio-environmental projects in the Paranaguá Bay and on the islands within the Terminal’s region of influence, including the Troca Solidária (Solidarity Exchange) program, which is turning 11 years old, initiatives to preserve the Caiçara culture, and the most recent one, the Leme Paranaguá Project. “May we grow together, proud of our history and looking toward a prosperous future,” Machado concludes, celebrating the city’s anniversary.
