The commodities giant on Wednesdayannounced plans to “invest and build” what it described as a “regional hub” inMontevideo, Uruguay.

The company indicated the initiativewill include a $20m investment in the construction of a new office buildingthat will be located in the Zonamerica business park.

If all goes according to plan Trafigurasays the project will likely begin in March and should be completed in approximately18 months.

Today, the company said it is expects to see over 300 employees  based in its newest satellite office by the end of2015.

“Trafiguraalready has a presence in Montevideo for commercial activity related to thetrading of oil, minerals and metals for the South American region and sharedsupport functions for the Americas,” it continued.

“Infuture, heads of trading desks for the region and their teams will operate fromMontevideo as part of the company's plans to grow trading volumes across theregion, supported by teams in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru.”

Trafiguramade it clear that the plan is another component of a broader bid to “investin infrastructure assets” that support trade flows between South America anddestinations like Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Inaddition it pointed out that Impala, the company’s port and terminalsubsidiary, also plans to base its South American operations in Montevideo,which may not come as a surprise since it recently acquired a controllinginterest in Porte Sudeste from iron ore producer MMX.

“Operationallater in 2014, this major new terminal with initial capacity of 50 milliontonnes per annum will connect miners in Brazil's Iron Quadrangle with globalmarkets,” the trading giant continued in reference to the portcomplex.

Trafigura, which operates both owned andchartered tonnage and recently put pen to paper on orders for a series ofbulkers and products tankers, will be in good company when it opens its officein Uruguay’s capital city.

Navios South American Logistics, anaffiliate of diversified Greek operator Navios Maritime Holdings, isheadquartered in Montevideo as well and currently occupies an office that is locatedless than 30 minutes away, according to a local market source.

Several mining companies andcommodities firms like Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus areactive in Uruguay and the surrounding region, which boasts a busy network ofports and terminals that serves as an important link in the global supply chain.