Port of Santos loses cargo due to exhausted capacity, says Cecafé

The Port of Santos is losing cargo due to “exhausted capacity,” according to the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé). This situation drew attention when the Port of São Sebastião handled a coffee shipment in September—the first such operation in over 60 years.

“This scenario reflects the challenges of the country’s port infrastructure and the exhaustion of the Santos docks, which create difficulties in consolidating containerized export cargo and force companies to seek alternatives,” said Cecafé’s technical director, Eduardo Heron.

More than 8,000 bags of green coffee produced in Minas Gerais and São Paulo were shipped to Germany last month. The operation used breakbulk shipping—a modality in which the product is transported loose or in separate units in the ship’s hold. The last coffee shipment from the Port of São Sebastião occurred in the 1960s.

The chart used DataLiner data, a foreign trade intelligence service developed by Datamar, to compare Brazil’s coffee shipments (measured in TEUs) from the Port of Santos in the first eight months of the last four years. See more details below.

Coffee shipments from Santos | Jan-Aug 2021 vs. Jan-Aug 2024 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Issues

Heron highlights that foreign clients are missing their shipments due to recurring berthing delays and changes to berthing schedules at Santos, “which contribute to increased rollovers of cargo and congested terminal yards, preventing the receipt of new containers for export.”

He also noted that these delays lead to “congested yards, disruptions to gate openings, and a lack of slots at terminals, adding unforeseen and significant costs to coffee shipments.”

Heron mentions that container shipments “have been increasing along with the rise in coffee, cotton, and sugar exports” and that to meet new demand, “investments are needed to expand capacity.”

APS Responds

The Santos Port Authority (APS) denies any cargo diversion from the Port of Santos. “Data shows a 53.5% increase in coffee shipments through Santos between January and August this year compared to last year, rising from 1.03 million in 2023 to 1.59 million in 2024.”

APS argues that the Santos docks handled approximately 72.5% of the country’s coffee exports in the first seven months of the year. APS President Anderson Pomini emphasized that they “have already held meetings with shipping lines, coffee producers, and terminals to discuss important measures to improve performance.”

Source: A Tribuna

Click here to access the original reporting: https://www.atribuna.com.br/noticias/portomar/porto-de-santos-perde-cargas-devido-a-capacidade-esgotada-afirma-cecafe-1.436652

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