Suape approved to receive Sammax and New Panamax vessels

The Brazilian Navy has approved the Suape Industrial Port Complex to receive Sammax class vessels and New Panamax vessels which will start operating in the country from next year. According to the president of the Port of Suape, the most difficult part of the approval process has been completed and now the port needs to concentrate on resolving operational issues, such as developing a dynamic draft control system and training workers to receive larger vessels.

The New Panamax vessels that are expected to call at Brazilian ports next year are 366m in length, 52m in width and have a draft of up to 15.2m, with a 14,000 TEU capacity. Up until now, the port has only been authorized to receive container vessels that are 305m long and 48m wide with a capacity of up to 8,000 TEUs.

The Court of Auditors (TCU) is currently reviewing auction documents for the second container terminal at Suape, Tecon 2. The port authority plans to offer an auction this July and announce the winner in November. The concession is expected to bring R$1.2bn in investments in the terminal and will increase terminal capacity from 700,000 TEUs to 1.7m TEUs.  Tecon 2,  which is expected to become operational within the next three years, will have the capacity to receive New Panamax vessels.

The port handled 454,721 TEU last year. CompCont data shows Suape’s container movement trends for the last ten years:

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