Port bottlenecks inflict losses on Brazilian coffee exporters

Brazilian coffee exporters suffered losses of R$66.1 million in logistics costs to move shipments in 2025. According to the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé), the existing bottlenecks reflect the “exhaustion of port infrastructure, especially for containerized cargo.” The estimate released by the association on Tuesday (Jan. 27) corresponds to additional expenses with storage and early cargo organization processes, known as pre-stacking, as well as penalties for delays in returning empty containers, classified as detention. There were also costs linked to cargo that was not shipped.

With the inclusion of December data, Cecafé’s survey shows that, on average, 55% of vessels experienced delays or schedule changes each month, preventing the shipment of 1,824 coffee containers. This volume is equivalent to roughly 602,000 bags per month. As a result, the country failed to generate approximately R$14.67 billion in revenue last year.

In December alone, exporters recorded an additional loss of R$4.63 million due to the non-shipment of 1,475 containers, equivalent to 486,300 bags. The disruptions were driven by truck queues, congested yards, a lack of berths and successive changes to vessel schedules.

Cecafé technical director Eduardo Heron said record cargo shipment figures released by port authorities “mask” the bottlenecks faced by sectors that rely on container transport, such as coffee. “Aggregate foreign trade results do not reflect the reality of those who need to ship containerised cargo. Coffee, sugar, cotton and other products continue to face delays, rollovers and a lack of capacity at ports,” he said in a statement.

Below is an overview of Brazilian coffee exports, recorded month by month on Datamar’s DataLiner foreign trade intelligence platform.

Coffee Exports | Jan 2022 – Nov2025  | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The main challenges are concentrated at the Port of Santos, which accounted for 78.7% of Brazil’s coffee shipments in 2025. Heron said there is an infrastructure gap that also affects coffee growers, as Brazil passes on more than 90% of the cost of transporting the product to the destination country to producers. “When coffee does not ship, it is not only the exporter who loses revenue, but also the farmer,” he said.

He noted that between 2016 and 2025 Brazilian agribusiness exports grew 72%, rising from 158.9 million tonnes to 273.1 million tonnes, according to AgroStat data from the Ministry of Agriculture. In Heron’s view, without infrastructure investment and if the same problems persist this year, the country will continue to accumulate losses and lose competitiveness.

Cecafé also warned of a potential worsening of the situation amid the risk of legal challenges to the STS 10 terminal auction, following restrictions imposed by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) on the participation of shipping lines. The sector believes the move could further delay the expansion of yard space and berth capacity at Brazil’s main port. As an alternative, Cecafé is seeking to redirect cargo to other logistics corridors. “Even with a roughly 20% drop in coffee exports, which eased pressure on the port, bottlenecks remain and there are still containers waiting to be shipped,” Heron said.

Source: CNN Brasil

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