Santos Brasil introduces new Asia–South America service at Tecon Santos

Santos Brasil has entered into a partnership with South Korean shipping giant HMM (Hyundai Merchant Marine) to operate a new regular service at Tecon Santos. The inaugural call of the FIL2 service took place on Monday (23), with the berthing of the vessel Privilege.

FIL2 connects Asia with the East Coast of South America (and vice versa) and will be jointly operated by HMM and Ocean Network Express (ONE). The service will deploy 11 vessels with a capacity of 6,000 TEUs each.

The full rotation lasts 77 days, with an estimated weekly handling volume of up to 2,700 TEUs per call, totaling approximately 140,000 TEUs per year.

With the new service, Santos Brasil now serves the world’s ten largest global shipping lines at Tecon Santos, the largest container terminal in South America and one of the most efficient, located on the left bank of the Port of Santos (SP).

According to Santos Brasil’s Commercial Director of Operations, Danilo Ramos, “the arrival of Hyundai consolidates another regular connection within the Tecon Santos network, expanding capacity supply and logistics predictability for customers. It is another important result of the heavy investments made by the company in recent years.”

The following breakdown highlights the leading commodities exported through Santos Brasil’s Tecon Santos terminal throughout 2025. The data was compiled and processed by Datamar’s market intelligence specialists:

Top Export Commodities | Santos Brasil – Tecon Santos | 2025 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Modernization

In January, the terminal received two new ship-to-shore cranes (quay cranes) and eight additional electric RTGs (rubber-tired gantry cranes), bringing the total to 16 units of this model. The equipment is state-of-the-art and remotely operated, a technology pioneered by Santos Brasil in Brazil at the end of 2024. Investments in the ten cranes total R$300 million.

The company also plans to acquire another 30 electric RTGs in the coming years, gradually replacing diesel-powered models. Each conventional unit replaced by an electric one avoids the emission of about 20 tonnes of CO₂ per month.

The Tecon Santos expansion and modernization project began in 2019 and foresees investments of around R$3 billion through 2031, of which approximately R$2 billion has already been invested. Santos Brasil’s goal is to reach a capacity of 3 million TEUs by the end of this year. The terminal project aligns with the company’s Climate Transition Plan to achieve net zero.

Source: Santos Brasil

Sharing is caring!