Itaguaí () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

located in the Brazilian state of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and contains several important iron ore loading ports of the world including Ilha Guaiba. Its population was 134,819 in 2020 and its area is 273 km². The city was founded in 1688 and lies midway between

and

Angra dos Reis Angra dos Reis (; Portuguese for ''cove'' or ''bay of the Kings'') is a Brazilian municipality located in the southern part of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The city is located by the sea and includes in its territory many offshore islands, the l ...

. Itaguaí is located approximately 75 km west of the city of

on the road to Santos (SP). It is located between the shore of Sepetiba Bay and the Atlantic Rainforest. Itaguai and the region around it contain some of the largest ore exporting ports in Brazil. It also serves also as dormitory town for workers of the industrial western zone (Zona Oeste) of Rio de Janeiro. It is the seat of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Itaguaí The Roman Catholic Diocese of Itaguaí ( la, Dioecesis Itaguaiensis) is a diocese located in the city of Itaguaí in the Ecclesiastical province of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. History * 14 March 1980: Established as Diocese of I ...

Port of Itaguai (Sepetiba / Guaiba island)

The Port of Itaguai was opened as a deepwater port in 1982, primarily to export alumina and other minerals found in the

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...

region. It includes ports of Itaguai, Sepetiba and Guaiba island. The port of

Sepetiba Sepetiba is a neighborhood in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, surrounded by Santa Cruz and Guaratiba, and by the Sepetiba Bay. It occupies an area of 1,162.13 ha, and has a population of 35,892 (according to Instituto Brasileiro de ...

is located in the port of Itaguaí. As of August 2018, the port accommodates large bulk carriers (170,000 deadweight). The Port of Sepetiba is further divided into two administrative regions - Sepetiba Bay and Sepetiba terminal. The Port of Guaíba island (also known as Ilha Guaiba terminal), located close by has separate terminals for exporting mineral ores, but is privately owned by the mining company

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipa ...

and comes under the authority of the Port of Itaguai (Rio de Janeiro). Guaiba consists of deep water berths for loading the largest bulk carriers in the world, but has no residents and no road connections. Iron ore reaches the terminal through a railway bridge that connects the island to the mainland, and further, to the Vale mines in

. In March 2019, the port, which exports 40 million tonnes of iron ore each year, was closed by the local municipality due to excessive pollution and after the Brumadinho disaster in another mine in Brazil. The closure was short though, as a court injunction was granted to Vale a day later and the port resumed operations.

References

Port cities in Brazil Populated coastal places in Rio de Janeiro (state) Municipalities in Rio de Janeiro (state) {{RiodeJaneiro-geo-stub