Wilson Sons receives MSC’s first 366-metre supership at Salvador Container Terminal

Brazil’s largest port and maritime logistics operator, Wilson Sons receives MSC Orion this Wednesday, July 24th, at Salvador Container Terminal. The 366-metre-long ship has 16-metre draft (depth) and is capable of carrying 15,000 containers. It is the first ship of this class to operate in Baía de Todos-os-Santos.

The supership landed at the Salvador terminal, inaugurating the regular route from Bahia to Asia, and demanded the handling of 700 containers.

“The first call of a 366-metre ship in Bahia is a cause for celebration at MSC. The operation of MSC Orion demonstrates and reiterates our commitment to offering transport capacity to boost the growth of Brazilian foreign trade,” MSC says.

This operation is part of a direct route with Asia, which has begun this month and will have weekly departures, strengthening the relationship not only with China, but also with markets in the Far East.

The new shipping route will allow the North and Northeast of Brazil to connect more efficiently with these regions and will allow the Midwest and Southeast to find solutions to the logistical bottlenecks that affect the current supply chain. The main export segments that could benefit from this direct line are cotton produced in Bahia, meat, fruit, paper pulp, chemicals and petrochemicals. In terms of imports, renewable energy, chemicals and petrochemicals, the automotive industry, fertilizers and electronics will also be more competitive.

“We are very proud to provide the Brazilian market with a service that provides direct calls between Asia and the Brazilian Northeast. This reiterates our commitment to offering transport capacity to boost the growth of Brazilian foreign trade, and strengthens our trust in the great potential that the Northeast Region already has,” says MSC Mediterranean Shipping do Brasil.

The Port of Salvador was the second in Brazil to receive authorization from the Bahia Port Authority to operate ships of up to 366 m, back in 2018, anticipating the changes that the main global routes were already presenting, which would soon arrive in the country, demanding greater operational efficiency of Brazilian terminals.

“This year, the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked Salvador Container Terminal the world’s 6th best container terminal of less than 500,000 TEUs, as a result of a survey carried out with ship owners on service efficiency. In addition to this important recognition, we have entered the route of the largest ships in the world, which highlights the prominent position that Salvador has been achieving and which favours an extensive chain of producers, industries from different segments, both within and outside Bahia,” Salvador Container Terminal executive director Demir Lourenço says.

The investments made by Wilson Sons in the terminal, which began in 2000, have exceeded R$ 1 billion, culminating in the recent pier expansion works, increasing the draft depth to 16 metres, expanding the back area for cargo storage, incorporation of new technologies, acquisition of electrical machinery equivalent to that used in the most modern ports in the world, and training operational teams.

“Amidst the market changes triggered by increasingly larger ships, we had to be prepared to maintain our routes and attract new ones, such as what is now being done with the Asian continent,” Lourenço further adds.

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