Cargo Transshipment Stations as Logistic Mediators for the Fertilizer Industry

In order to participate in the competitive global food markets, Brazilian agribusiness has been expanding its agricultural frontiers to regions ever more distant from the consumption area, which makes logistics management absolutely necessary. Accordingly, this article verifies the importance of cargo transshipment stations as mediating variables between integrated logistics management and logistics performance in Brazilian companies that are part of the mineral fertilizer industry. Thus, a descriptive study was carried out in which data was collected by semi-structured questionnaires applied to logistic managers. Eighty-nine responses were obtained. The collected data was submitted to structural equation modeling, PLS-PM, at (α ≤ 0,05) statistical significance level, and revealed that cargo transshipment stations partially mediate the relationship between fertilizer companies’ integrated logistics management and performance. The results showed adherence to the established theoretical model and that the use of cargo transshipment stations as a full mediator for fertilizers still has a long way to go.