Santos handles record volume of cargo in May thanks to soy and sugar exports

Cargo handling through the Port of Santos reached a record high for the month of May, registering 12.98 million tonnes – 13.9% more than the previous record set in 2017, and 18.1% higher than May 2019.  The significant increase in May volumes raised the accumulated total handled during the five-month for 2020 to 58.00 million tonnes.  This is 8.2% more than the highest cumulative total for the same period, which occurred in 2018, and 11.5% more than the same period last year.

May’s results were driven by a robust 27.6% increase in shipments, led by the 40.2% growth in soybean and grain exports (4.50 million tonnes), the largest share of the complex’s total movement, and 94.3% in sugar shipments (2.25 million tonnes), the second-largest cargo handled by Santos.  For the five-month cumulative total, the picture is similar, with shipments showing a high of 13.7%, also driven by soy complex (18.86 million tonnes), which grew by 22.4%, followed by sugar (6.67 million tons). tons) with an increase of 35.1%.  All this is comparative to last year’s figures.

The following graph shows Brazilian sugar exports month by month, with emphasis on the ports with the greatest movement of the commodity:

Another highlight of the shipments was the 209.6% growth in fuel oil (246,500 tonnes) in the month, increasing the total in the five-month period by 70.6% (881,350 thousand tonnes). On the import side, there was a 67.3% growth in fertilizers (653,300 tonnes), leading to an increase of 32.2% for the five-month cumulative total year-on-year (2.14 million tonnes).

Container operations, which declined in the month, remained high when looking at the cumulative five-month period, which totaled 1.71 million TEU, also a new record for the period, surpassing the highest performance in 2017 by 1.2%, and by 8.3% compared to the first five months of 2019.

Vessel calls came to 403 in May, totaling 1,996 for the Jan-May period, with growth of 2.0% and 1.9%, respectively for both periods year-on-year.

Sharing is caring!