Ports and Terminals

Santos cargo handling continues growth trend in February

Mar, 24, 2021 Posted by Ruth Hollard

Week 202113

In February, the total cargo handling at the Port of Santos set a new record for the period, with 10.9 million tons handled. As a result, it maintained the growth trend seen in the last months of 2020 and in January of this year. The result is 2.5% above the same period last year when just over 10.6 million tons were handled.

Containerized cargo saw double-digit growth. 388,564 TEU were handled, 13.0% above that recorded in February last year (343,794 TEU), bringing the year-to-date (YTD) result to 762,656 TEU, 11.8% more than in the first two months of 2020 (682,270 TEU).

Shipments grew 2.3%, totaling 7.5 million tons. Contributing to this result was Sugar (with an increase of 26.6%); diesel oil and diesel (195.9%); citrus juices (20.3%); and coffee beans (12.3%). Imports registered a growth of 3.1%, totaling 3.4 million tons. Fertilizer (82.2%) and caustic soda (66.2%) led imports.

YTD handling

The strong results in February increased YTD cargo to 20.1 million tons, also a record for the period, at 5.4% above the highest result registered in 2019 (19.1 million tons) for the period, and 6.0% above 2020 (19.0 million tons).

Exports reached 13.2 million tons in the first two months, 5.1% above the same period in 2020. Products that led exports include sugar (31.4%); coffee beans (16.6%); alcohol (18.2%); soybean meal (15.8%); corn (13.3%); diesel oil and diesel (109.3%); and citrus juices (35.0%). Imports during this period reached 6.8 million tons, 7.9% above the first two months of 2020. Fertilizer (80.1%) and liquefied petroleum gas (97.4%) led the imports.

Loose general cargo amounted to 955,800 tons, up 12.0% compared to the same period last year. In the same line, solid bulk grew 3.6%, registering the second-best level for the period: 8.4 million tons. The liquid bulk showed stability before 2020.

The lower number of ships in the period (decrease of 5.7%) coupled with the growth in physical movement denotes the tendency to increase the average load, with higher cargo volumes per vessel.