Container handling costs soar as Port of Santos nears capacity

Container terminals at the Port of Santos are operating increasingly close to their capacity limit, raising concerns among industry specialists about mounting logistics costs at Latin America’s largest port complex.

Figures provided to CNN Brasil by Luis Cláudio Montenegro, a consultant at Neowise Consultoria, indicate that growing vessel queues have driven the average terminal handling charge, knows simply as THC, to nearly five times its previous level.

According to the consultancy’s estimates, the charge rose from between $70 and $100 per TEU in 2019 to around $500 in 2026.

Meanwhile, the auction for container terminal STS 10 remains pending a final decision. The Brazilian government has postponed the tender at least eight times.

The proposed mega-terminal is expected to attract nearly R$6 billion in investment and increase the port’s container-handling capacity by 50%.

Montenegro cautioned that the THC figures are estimates because contracts between shipping lines and terminal operators are considered commercially sensitive and are not made public.

He said the charges have historically moved in line with the amount of capacity available at the port.

In 2011, the average THC stood at around $300. It subsequently fell after Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP) and DP World began operating terminals at Santos in 2013, adding new capacity to the complex.

“When those terminals entered the market, the price plunged,” Montenegro said. “It was $300 in 2011, fell to $160 in 2015, declined to $90 in 2017 and reached $70 in 2019.”

According to Montenegro, who provides consulting services to Swiss shipping group MSC, terminals began moving back toward full capacity from 2019 onward, driven primarily by rising cargo demand and the growth of e-commerce.

He said all three container terminal operators at Santos—Santos Brasil, BTP and DP World—are currently facing congestion.

Terminal operators, however, argue that the logistics problems pushing up port service costs, including THC, stem mainly from bottlenecks in the road and rail infrastructure connecting the port with its hinterland.

“We have bottlenecks, but we also have an opportunity to address them directly and make the necessary investments,” said Jesualdo Silva, chief executive of the Brazilian Association of Port Terminals (ABTP). “The constraints are less severe inside the ports themselves and more concentrated in the surrounding infrastructure, particularly overland access.”

Silva acknowledged that some Brazilian ports are nearing operational saturation but said other terminals still have spare capacity. He argued that the government has an opportunity to pursue policies that diversify freight transportation, including greater use of inland waterways.

“Cargo is concentrated at the most heavily used ports, such as Santos, Paranaguá and other ports in southern Brazil,” he said. “At the same time, several new terminals are being built to help address these constraints.”

Vessel waiting times rise sharply

The study also showed that the average time vessels spent waiting for a berth at Santos rose from between eight and nine hours in 2019 to around 35 hours in 2024, reflecting growing pressure on the port’s infrastructure.

In a statement to CNN Brasil, the Santos Port Authority (APS) confirmed the consultancy’s figures and the increase in vessel waiting times.

The authority noted, however, that container throughput at the port rose 42% between 2019 and 2025, placing significant pressure on the existing infrastructure.

Brazilian container throughput has reached a series of records in recent years, growing faster than the global average. The nature of the cargo handled by terminals has also changed.

A study by Brazil’s National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) found that shipping lines operating in the country have increasingly omitted port calls, meaning vessels cancel scheduled stops and sail directly to their next destination.

The study also pointed to cargo delivery delays and inadequate communication from carriers about berth-window availability—the scheduled period during which a vessel is expected to dock, complete loading or unloading operations and vacate the berth.

Shipping lines have attributed these service disruptions to container terminals operating beyond their capacity, creating difficulties for vessel operations.

According to Datamar data, both exports and imports increased at the Port of Santos in the first five months of the year compared with the same period last year, rising 3.3% and 7.3%, respectively.

The chart below compares deep-sea container operations at the port in recent years:

Port of Santos | Exports vs. Imports | Jan 2023-May 2026 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Risk to Brazil’s competitiveness

Montenegro warned that Brazil could lose competitiveness on international shipping routes if the situation persists. Carriers could eventually stop deploying their largest vessels to Brazilian ports, he said.

“If this continues, Brazil will no longer receive large ships,” Montenegro said. “Smaller vessels come with higher freight rates.”

The port industry has viewed Tecon Santos 10 as one of the main projects capable of easing congestion at Santos.

APS said it is also pursuing other measures to attract shipping lines and reduce bottlenecks, including deepening the navigation channel to 16 meters and improving the use of container storage yards.

The authority has also designated three areas for logistics parks, which it said could improve cargo flows between inland storage facilities and the port terminals.

Source: CNN Brasil

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