The main stem of the Amazon River has provided access to ocean-going cargo ships for centuries, including modern container ships that service the manufacturing sector in Manaus and ore-carriers that haul bauxite from near Oriximiná (Pará) and iron ore and manganese from Santana (Amapá). The first modern grain terminal, built at Itacoatiara in 1998 across […]
The Rio Madeira was the next Amazonian tributary to attract the attention of Brazil’s hydropower developers. The river is free of rapids as it flows along the western edge of the Brazilian Shield for about 1,300 kilometers between Porto Velho (Rondônia) to its junction with the Amazon River near Itacoatiara (Amazonas). Upstream, the watershed is […]