Port of Santos expansion plan remains stalled in Brasília

Three months after the Santos Port Authority (APS) asked the federal government to add new areas to the official boundaries of the Port of Santos, Brazil’s Ministry of Ports and Airports has yet to provide a decision.

The request remains under technical review by the ministry’s National Secretariat of Ports.

“In June, the Santos Port Authority submitted new requests to include areas that were not covered by the jurisdiction of the Port of Santos in its latest boundary review, carried out in February 2026. The requests therefore remain under analysis,” the ministry said in a statement.

APS, also contacted for comment, said only that it had “no updates on the matter for now,” while adding that dialogue with the Ministry of Ports and Airports remains ongoing on this and other issues.

Expanding the Port of Santos is becoming increasingly important at a time when container logistics are under growing pressure. Rising throughput requires not only greater terminal capacity, but also more space for storage and operational support, as well as better management of the inland cargo flows entering and leaving the port complex. Bringing new areas into the port’s boundaries could therefore help ease bottlenecks and provide room to accommodate further growth in demand. Throughput data compiled by Datamar help illustrate the scale of that challenge.

According to the company, deep-sea container movements at the Port of Santos totaled 793,347 TEUs in exports and 934,259 TEUs in imports during the first seven months of the year. The chart below provides a comparison:

Exports & Imports | Port of Santos | Jan 2023 – Jul 2026 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

New areas requested

As A Tribuna reported in July, the proposed Port of Santos expansion includes the Ecopátio area in Cubatão; sites on the mainland portion of São Vicente, specifically in the areas known as Vale Novo and Areias; Vila dos Criadores, in Santos’ Alemoa district; and a site in the historic Valongo area.

The Valongo site is expected to accommodate a parking garage as part of the infrastructure for cruise passenger operations, following the planned relocation of the passenger terminal to the area facing Parque Valongo.

Vila dos Criadores is likely to be one of the most complex areas for APS to address.

The site is contaminated and occupied by around 1,000 families living in homes built without formal planning around the former Alemoa landfill.

Before APS can acquire and clear the area, a long-running legal dispute involving the Santos municipal government must first be resolved.

A housing project would also be required, along with negotiations with residents to leave the area. The site would also need to undergo decontamination.

Port area expanded by 56% in February

In February, the Port of Santos added another 5.2 square kilometers to its official area, bringing the total to 14.5 square kilometers.

That represented a 56% increase in the port’s territorial footprint.

The expansion was authorized by the Ministry of Ports and Airports through an ordinance published in Brazil’s Federal Official Gazette on February 10.

Source: A Tribuna

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