Brazil BNDES/Merchant Marine Fund approves BRL 345m loan to Hermasa for 62-vessel decarbonisation fleet

Mechanism

Same instrument family as other 2025 BNDES/FMM single-recipient vessel loans already in this register (Bram Offshore BRL 186.1m, Starnav BRL 2.5bn, LHG Logística BRL 3.7bn) — a levy-funded shipbuilding/shipping development fund distinct from BNDES's general-purpose Finem/Mais Inovação lines. This tranche is smaller in absolute terms but is notable as the FMM's first allocation explicitly earmarked for decarbonisation rather than capacity expansion or modernisation alone: the barges' standard-Mississippi design (46 Box-model at 2,390t, 14 Raked-model at 2,200t) and the azimuth-propulsion towboats are pitched to cut trip count and enable biodiesel substitution. Hermasa is a river-logistics subsidiary operating the Madeira-Amazon grain/bulk corridor. Severity set at 2, consistent with the scale and structure of other 2025 BNDES single-recipient financing approvals in this register — a real subsidy with a disclosed quantum, but a recurring instrument type rather than a novel policy shift.

Downstream implications

• Extends the 2025 BNDES/FMM financing cadence for Brazil's inland

waterway/shipbuilding sector (cf. Bram Offshore, Starnav, LHG Logística, Tecon Salvador/Rio Grande port loans already in this register), with FMM increasingly used as a targeted climate/decarbonisation subsidy channel rather than purely a capacity-expansion one.

• Adds ~35% cargo capacity to the Madeira-Amazon corridor, relevant to

Brazil's grain/bulk export logistics out of the North region.

Open questions

• Whether the FMM decarbonisation earmark comes with reporting or

verification requirements on the claimed 88.4% emissions cut, or is a one-off engineering estimate — not specified in sources reviewed.