Santos Brasil Begins New Expansion Phase at Tecon Santos with Demolition of Administrative Building

Santos Brasil has begun another stage of the expansion project at Tecon Santos, the largest container terminal in South America, with the deactivation and demolition of its administrative building and the start of construction of a new, more modern, and sustainable headquarters for the terminal.

The current building occupies 4,000 m² and is located at the center of the terminal yard. After the works, this space will be incorporated into the container yard, expanding Tecon Santos’s storage capacity. The terminal’s dynamic capacity will increase by approximately 137,000 TEUs per year, contributing to the Company’s goal of reaching 3 million TEUs of capacity by the end of 2026.

The new facility will be located next to the land gate, have five floors, roughly 1,200 m² of total area, and be capable of accommodating up to 450 employees.

The new headquarters will receive around R$72 million in investments, with inauguration scheduled for the second half of 2027. The project is aligned with the Company’s Climate Transition Plan, which targets becoming net zero by 2040. It includes features that meet LEED certification requirements (a global, environmentally sustainable building rating system), such as the use of sustainable materials, including lightweight steel structures, metal brise-soleils, and solar-control glass, to improve energy efficiency. It will also feature green terraces and a central atrium integrated with natural elements, an expanded permeable area, more efficient hydraulic and sanitary systems, and integration with the bicycle parking area.

Equipment

In addition to the civil works, 2026 will also mark the arrival of two ship-to-shore cranes and eight electric RTGs. The equipment was acquired this year by Santos Brasil, has already departed China en route to Brazil, and is expected to arrive at Tecon Santos in January. Manufactured by China’s ZPMC, the investment totaled around R$300 million.

The new ship-to-shore cranes feature TPS (Truck Position System) technology, which precisely defines truck stopping points for loading and unloading operations — already present in the last four cranes received by the terminal — and adds the advantage of remote operation. In other words, operators will leave the high cabin of the equipment to work from the administrative building’s operations center, just as they already do with the RTGs.

Each crane is 50 meters tall from the quay to the boom, with a 70-meter boom, and can handle up to two fully loaded 20-foot containers simultaneously, carrying up to 100 tons.

The new RTGs will join the eight electric units already in operation. They are state-of-the-art models enabling remote operation, implemented at the terminal in the final quarter of 2024 — a pioneering initiative in Brazil. Another 30 electric RTGs will be acquired in the coming years, replacing the diesel models. The initiative, which enhances operator safety and ergonomics, enables a reduction of around 20 tons of CO₂ per month per unit. The complete fleet transition will prevent 713 tons of CO₂ per month from being emitted into the atmosphere, resulting in a 97% reduction in emissions from these pieces of equipment at the terminal.

The expansion and modernization project at Tecon Santos began in 2019, and by 2031, approximately R$3 billion (updated values) will have been invested, of which R$2 billion has already been deployed.

Source: Santos Brasil

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