HBSA3

Hidrovias do Brasil S.A. is a Brazilian publicly held company created in 2010 by Pátria Infraestrutura Fundo de Investimento em Participações Multiestratégia as a greenfield project focused on logistics infrastructure, with an emphasis on waterway solutions. Incorporated on August 18, 2010 and headquartered in the city of São Paulo, the company consolidated over the following decade an integrated platform of transportation, terminals and port services aimed mainly at the outflow of agricultural commodities, minerals and pulp in South America. The company’s shares are traded on B3 under the ticker HBSA3, placing it in the Brazilian capital markets as one of the representatives of the transportation and logistics segment with intensive use of the river modal. In 2024 and 2025, the shareholding control structure underwent a significant change, with Ultra Logística Ltda. initially acquiring a 40% stake and subsequently exceeding 50% of the share capital after a capital increase approved in May 2025, consolidating control of Hidrovias do Brasil.

Hidrovias do Brasil’s business model is based on providing integrated logistics services, with an emphasis on long‑distance waterway transportation of bulk cargo, complemented by cabotage operations, port services, transshipment and storage. As of December 31, 2024, the company operated four port terminals with total loading capacity of 20.5 million tons per year, in addition to one cargo transshipment station. This infrastructure is supported by a large waterway fleet made up of hundreds of cargo barges, main and auxiliary towboats, and vessels employed in coastal navigation. The company organizes its operations into segments that reflect its main logistics corridors: North Corridor, South Corridor, Cabotage (Coastal Shipping) and the Santos terminal, each with its own operating dynamics, asset base and client portfolio, but complementary within the integrated transportation strategy.

Hidrovias do Brasil’s operating segments contribute differently to revenue generation. In 2024, the North Corridor accounted for about 63% of net service revenue, reflecting the importance of this route in the movement of grains and fertilizers between the producing hinterland and the Northern Arc of export ports. The South Corridor, based on the Paraguay–Paraná Waterway, accounted for approximately 14% of revenue, focusing on transportation of iron ore, grains, fertilizers and pulp among Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. The cabotage operation, carried out mainly with two vessels dedicated to bauxite transportation between Trombetas and Barcarena, represented around 17% of net revenue, while the STS‑20 terminal at the Port of Santos, focused on fertilizers and salt, contributed about 10%. The company combines river transportation, elevation and port services, transshipment, backhaul cargo brokerage and cabotage, structuring contracts that often encompass more than one stage of the logistics chain.

In the North Corridor, Hidrovias do Brasil operates an integrated system that connects the Miritituba Cargo Transshipment Station, in Itaituba (State of Pará), to the Vila do Conde Private Use Terminal, in Barcarena (State of Pará), both privately owned by the company. In this corridor, it provides bulk solid cargo transshipment services in Miritituba, waterway transportation with barge convoys and towboats, as well as port elevation services in Vila do Conde. The main cargoes handled are soybeans, corn and fertilizers, with the Barcarena terminal having accounted in 2024 for more than 6 million tons exported of these products, representing a significant share of total exports from the Northern region. The company also develops brokerage operations to optimize asset utilization, loading fertilizers on the return leg of barges that discharge grains, using third‑party terminals in the return logistics.

The South Corridor is based on the Paraguay–Paraná Waterway, one of the largest navigable river systems in the world, and includes river transportation operations on multiple routes among Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. In this axis, Hidrovias do Brasil mainly transports iron ore from the Corumbá region (State of Mato Grosso do Sul) to ports in Argentina and Uruguay, as well as soybeans, corn, fertilizers and pulp. The company also holds minority interests in port and navigation assets in the region, such as a bulk terminal in Montevideo, a pulp navigation company in Uruguay and a bulk terminal in Concepción, Paraguay. The operation is anchored in long‑term contracts, such as the agreement signed for iron ore transportation on the Paraguay–Paraná waterway, and complemented by short‑term contracts that capture additional volume opportunities. In the South Corridor, the company adjusts the fleet and convoy profile to hydrological and market conditions, seeking to remain competitive in the transportation of large volumes.

Coastal Shipping, characterized as the cabotage segment, consists mainly of transporting bauxite between Porto Trombetas and Barcarena, in the state of Pará, using two Brazilian‑flagged vessels specially designed for this route, which combines sea and river segments. This operation is dedicated to a client in the alumina sector, who uses the transported bauxite as input for one of the largest alumina refineries in the world, located in Barcarena. At the same time, the company also has the capacity to offer solid bulk transportation between other Brazilian ports through chartered vessels, depending on demand. The STS‑20 terminal at the Port of Santos (State of São Paulo), leased for 25 years and operational since 2020, is focused on handling, storage and dispatch of fertilizers and salt, serving mainly industries and agricultural regions in the Southeast and Center‑West, with road integration and, as of 2024, also rail integration.

Hidrovias do Brasil’s client base is made up of large international and domestic groups in the grain trading, mining, fertilizer and pulp sectors. Major clients include LHG Mining Corumba S.A., subsidiaries of the COFCO group, Norsk Hydro ASA, Rumo S.A. and subsidiaries of the Sodrugestvo group, in addition to other relevant trading and industrial companies. The company structures a large portion of its contracts under the take‑or‑pay model, in which there is a mutual commitment to capacity and minimum volume, providing greater revenue predictability and support for leveraging investments in long‑term assets. In 2024, two clients together accounted for just over 40% of net operating revenue, reflecting the importance of large‑scale contracts in both the North and South Corridors and in coastal bauxite shipping.

Hidrovias do Brasil’s operations are subject to a regulatory environment specific to waterway transportation and port infrastructure in Brazil. Inland navigation, cabotage and long‑haul shipping are governed mainly by Law No. 9,432/1997, with regulation and oversight by the National Waterway Transportation Agency (ANTAQ), an autonomous agency linked to the Ministry of Ports and Airports. The company requires authorizations, registrations and licenses to operate its navigation assets and terminals, as well as to maintain lease contracts and private use terminal agreements. In addition, because it operates on waterways that are sensitive to hydrological conditions, the company is exposed to climate and navigability risks, which are addressed in contractual clauses and mitigated through operational and risk management measures. The activities also involve environmental and safety obligations associated with bulk transportation and terminal operations, with the use of insurance for assets, vessels and cargoes under its custody.

In the capital markets context, Hidrovias do Brasil, through its HBSA3 shares traded on B3, represents direct exposure to waterway and port logistics infrastructure linked to the commodity chain in South America. The company combines capital‑intensive assets with long‑term contracts and operations along strategic outflow corridors, in a segment where the waterway modal tends to gain ground due to relative costs and environmental impacts compared with road and rail transportation. Operating dynamics are influenced by factors such as agricultural harvests, demand for iron ore and fertilizers, climate and hydrological conditions, as well as navigation and port regulations in the countries where it operates, mainly Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.