Container handling rates in Santos were higher by November than entire 2020

The substantial growth in the use of containers along the year led the Port of Santos to beat its annual container handling record in November, despite recorded declines. Santos came to a close of the first 11 months of 2021 having handled 4.4 million TEU, a result 3.5% higher than the annual record of 4.2 million TEU registered in the entire 2020, and 15.4% higher vis-a-vis the same period in 2020.

The Santos Port Authority (SPA), the state-led company that administers the Port of Santos, expects to finish the year with 4.8 million TEU handled, which corresponds to a 14% increase over the previous year. The port’s installed capacity is 5.3 million TEU.

“The disparity between handling rates and the port’s capacity for housing containers has been decreasing rapidly. This reiterates the need to auction STS 10, Santo’s new container terminal, which will undeniably be of extreme importance to supply the industry. Our role as an infrastructure planning company is to ensure the availability of supply before demand arrives”, highlights SPA’s CEO, Fernando Biral. The STS 10 terminal will be installed in Saboó and its auction is expected to occur in the second half of 2022.

In terms of the total volume of cargoes, the Port of Santos reached the milestone of 134.81 million tons in the year, the best result registered until November in history. Shipments totaled 94.8 million tons, down 4% over January-November 2020. Unloadings, on the other hand,  increased by 11.3%, reaching the 40 million tons figure.

Check the chart below and compare the handling of long-haul containers at the Port of Santos in the last two years. Data are from DataLiner:

Long-haul container handling at the Port of Santos | Jan to Oct 2020-2021 | TEU

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The highlight in terms of shipments was the soy complex, which went through a 5.4% increase, reaching 29 million tons. In November, the cargo also went through an increase in the pace of shipments, which is atypical for the period. The increase was 102.3% vis-a-vis the same month last year, culminating in 1 million tons. Beef also showed a positive performance, growing 1.7%, to 1.5 million tonnes by November.

On other hand, in terms of unloadings, the highlight was once again fertilizers, which reached 7.3 million tons, an increase of 25.2%. “The unloading of fertilizers has grown, which reinforces the importance of having another terminal in Santos focused on the activity”, adds Biral, commenting on the STS 53 area, which will be auctioned next year and now is open for public consultation until January 16, 2022.

In November, Santos handled 11.2 million tons of cargo, 7.3% less compared to November 2020. Exports of the soy complex and imports of fertilizers showed strong growth but were insufficient to beat the container handling rates observed in November 2020.

The total share of the Port of Santos in Brazilian trade in November remained at 27%.

The flow of ships fell by 2.2% in the year to date, totaling 4,409 berthings. With the increase in cargo handling (+0.1%) in the same period, concomitant with the drop in berthings (-2.2%), the average weight transported per vessel registered an increase of more than 2%.

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