Santos Port News

Brazil’s commodities export hubs are strained with record volumes of soy, corn and sugar to be moved at a time of the year when rains start to increase in southern ports, according to traders, analysts and shipping data.Exporters are reporting delays in coffee shipments due to a tight availability of trucks and containers, while loading waiting times for vessels have jumped, resulting in additional costs for traders and delays for the commodities to reach destinations.Brazil ports have been dealing with high volumes this year…

Brazil's government will not proceed with the privatization of the port of Santos, the largest in Latin America, the incoming minister of ports and airports was quoted as saying on Thursday by a Brazilian newspaper.Marcio Franca, tapped to head the ministry in President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government, told O Estado de S. Paulo's online edition that the decision had been made not to privatize the port, located just southeast of Sao Paulo and a key gateway for exports of agricultural commodities including soybeans and sugar.Franca could not be reached for comment on the decision…

The dispute between Brazilian port operators and global shipping giants Maersk and MSC is expected to escalate in the coming weeks, according to Brazilian newspaper Valor.Local port terminal operators, through their industry group ABTP, are trying to prevent Maersk and MSC from participating in an auction to operate terminal 10 in Latin America's largest port, Santos port, near Brazil's financial capital, Sao Paulo.Maersk and MSC already operate terminals in Brazil.

The Brazilian government will send the first doses of COVID-19 shots to immunize Santos port workers, with vaccinations slated to begin this week at Latin America's largest port, according to a statement from maritime agent Williams on Wednesday.Williams said Infrastructure Ministry Tarcísio de Freitas made a public commitment to vaccinate the workers, citing an audio message dated May 23 that was shared publicly by the National Federation of Port Operators (Fenop).The move is a response to growing pressure from the workers, who threatened to go on strike if the immunization did not occur by M

Union workers at Brazil's Santos port on Tuesday delayed a possible strike until next month, amid demands to know how soon they will be vaccinated against COVID-19, a union official said.Santos is South America's largest port and critical to Brazil's commodities exports.Union workers held a meeting on Tuesday to decide on whether to go on strike, with initial plans for a work stoppage this week.Bruno José dos Santos, president of the Sindestiva union representing port workers, told Reuters after the meeting that they would put off a decision on a possible strike and reevaluate if they were not

Soy and sugar traders are fighting for room in Latin America’s largest port, rushing to secure loading slots as the slowest Brazilian soy harvest in 10 years pushes the grains export window into the sugar season.Congestion was hitting Brazil’s Santos port just as consumers worldwide have been turning to top exporter Brazil for sugar and soybean supplies. The glut of shipments waiting to leave is boosting transport costs and will likely delay arrivals at destinations.Sugar prices hit a four-year high late last month, boosted by supply tightness.

Wilson Sons is the largest integrated port and maritime logistics operator in Brazil, operating more than 80 workboats. Marcio Castro, Executive Director Tugboat Division, discusses with Maritime Reporter the size, shape & technical direction of the fleet.Mr. Castro, to start, how did you come to a career in maritime?I graduated in System Engineering at Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), I also have an MBA in Business Administration (Coppead/UFRJ). I joined Wilson Sons in 2003…

A Brazilian court has barred crew members from disembarking from the Costa Fascinosa cruise ship anchored with no passengers at the port of Santos after some of their mates developed coronavirus symptoms, city authorities said on Monday.All passengers on the ship, which has a capacity for 3,800 passengers and crew, were disembarked on March 17 at Santos and only the crew remained in quarantined.Santos is Latin America's largest port and where most of Brazil's agriculture commodities are exported.Last week…

A union representing the on-demand dock workers has called off a vote that had been scheduled for Monday on whether to hold a strike at Latin America's largest port over concerns about risks from the coronavirus outbreak.In a statement on Sunday, the union - which said it represents about 5,000 people - said the cancellation of the vote was due to a request from government officials.

Latin America's largest port in Santos in Brazil will maintain regular operations, port operators said after meeting with dock workers and authorities on Wednesday to discuss measures to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.In a statement sent to Reuters, Regis Prunzel, president of operators group Sopesp, said a crisis committee was created with representatives from all stakeholders at the port, where most of Brazil's coffee, sugar, soybeans, corn and cotton are exported to the world.One of the measures agreed on Wednesday will reduce large group gatherings on port premises…

The company that operates Latin America’s largest port in the Brazilian city of Santos said on Friday it will suspend shipments of live animals. The company detailed its decision in a letter seen by Reuters that was sent by state-run Companhia Docas do Estado de São Paulo to a congressman. A press officer at Codesp, as the state-run operator is known, said the letter was authentic. Later, the company sent a statement confirming the suspension. The statement said that kind of operation…

China Merchants Group Ltd is in advanced talks to buy Advent International Corp's 50 percent stake in TCP Terminal de Contêineres de Paranaguá SA, Brazil's second-busiest container port, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper said on Thursday. According to Estado, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the transaction, talks with the Chinese state-run company known as CMG gained momentum after Advent's negotiations with Dubai-based DP World Ltd hit a snag. Reuters reported in August that Advent had hired Morgan Stanley & Co and Grupo BTG Pactual SA to sell the TCP stake. Sources said at the time that Advent wanted to fetch a price for the stake that could set a minimum value of 3.5 billion reais ($1.1 billion) for TCP.

Brazil is still attracting cruise lines, such as Norwegian Cruise Line, which is bringing a ship to Brazil for the first time in the 2016/2017 season. However, hard numbers do not bode well for the industry as the number of cruises dropped by more than half in four years, with a staggering 54 percent decrease in the number of regular cruise ships on the Brazilian coast. In 2012, the season had 15 regular ships, while this year there will be only seven, and the number of passengers boarding at Santos port will be 42 percent lower. The 2010/2011 season of cruises hit the record for ships on the Brazilian coast: 20. Since then, this number has fallen year on year…

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) and joint venture partner Van Oord have been awarded a contract by The Brazilian Ministry of Transport, Ports and Civil Aviation for the capital and maintenance dredging of the port of Santos, the largest port of South America. The contract carries a total value for the joint venture of approximately EUR 110 million.   In the coming months, studies will be undertaken and the design of the navigation channels and berths of the port will be reviewed. Subsequent dredging operations are expected to commence later this year with the deployment of various trailing suction hopper dredgers and a backhoe dredger. The dredging activities are expected to be completed in 2018.

Van Oord has been awarded a contract by the Brazilian Ministry of Transport, Ports and Civil Aviation for the capital and maintenance dredging of the port of Santos. This project in the largest port of South America will be executed in a joint venture with Boskalis. The contract carries a total value for the joint venture of approximately EUR 110 million. In the coming months studies will be done and the design of the navigation channels and berths of the port will be reviewed. Subsequent dredging operations are expected to start later this year with the deployment of various trailing suction hopper dredgers and a backhoe dredger. The dredging activities are expected to be completed in 2018.

In a year of changes and challenges in the national and global scenarios, Companhia Docas do Estado de São Paulo (Codesp) (Santos Port Authority) has developed actions to maintain the position of the Port of Santos as the main port complex in Latin America. The largest port complex in Latin America, is forecasting to move a record 120.6 million tons of cargo in 2017. CODESP estimates that the cargo movement through the Port of Santos totaled 113.475 million tons in 2016. The port aims to  "not only the largest but the best port to operate",  states the Director-president of the company José Alex Oliva. Port officials estimate exports will increase by 8.2 percent (89,000 million tons) and imports by 1.3 percent (31,596 million tons) this year.

A fire at the Rumo sugar and grain terminal in Brazil's Santos port that started early Thursday restricted operations but caused no injuries, according to a spokesman for the company controlled by sugar and ethanol producer Cosan SA. The blaze broke out around 4 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and the company expects to resume normal operations by midday Thursday, the spokesman said. The fire started at a conveyor belt which connects two of Rumo's warehouse complexes and was controlled within an hour, after loading and unloading were temporarily suspended. News of the incident in the world's biggest sugar producing nation triggered a more than 4 percent rally in sugar prices . Futures have pared back some early gains but are still trading up 2.5 percent at 11:00 a.m. local time.

Stevedores in Santos, Brazil's largest port, have scheduled a 24-hour strike for Monday, demanding wage hike adjustments for inflation as the country's main commodity markets gear up for the export season. Stevedores are due to suspend work at 07:00 a.m. Brasilia time for a full day but could extend the strike indefinitely, union President Rodnei Oliveira da Silva said. "All terminals will be affected," he said. It is still unclear what types of cargo will be affected. Typically dry bulk loading of soybeans, raw sugar and corn continues uninterrupted during stevedore strikes, as manual labor needs are limited for those operations. But loading of containers and other more labor-intensive goods could suffer.

Up to a dozen containers carrying chemicals caught fire at a terminal at Brazil's largest port of Santos on Thursday, restricting ship movement, representatives of the port authority Codesp said. The fire at the container terminal operated by logistics company Localfrio in Guaruja, on the eastern side of Santos, started around 3 p.m. Brasilia time (1700 GMT) and continued into the evening, sending plumes of smoke across the shipping channel at the commodity exporting port. The port authority said in a statement it had stopped ships from docking at a terminal operated by Santos Brasil next to Localfrio's Alfandegado terminal because of smoke, but otherwise the port was operating normally. Santos Brasil also said its operations were stopped indefinitely.

Trucks carrying commodities and other exports were unable to reach the Guaruja side of Brazil's largest Port of Santos on Friday, a day after containers holding chemicals caught fire and sent poisonous gases into the sky. A port spokeswoman said access would be restricted while firefighters snuff out the blaze that hit up to a dozen containers at the terminal operated by logistics company Localfrio. The fire, which caused dozens of people to go to the hospital after breathing the noxious smoke, is considered under control, the spokeswoman said. With trucks unable to reach the Guaruja side of the port, terminals there may have to rely on stocks, although some products are arriving by train.

Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP), began the New Year with the establishment of two new productivity records. On February 10th while working the 6328 TEU capacity MSC Geneva, 206 moves per hour (MPH) were achieved while handling 1,980 containers, representing 44 crane moves per hour (MPH), surpassing the previous record of 35 crane MPH set in January. A joint venture between APM Terminals and Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), BTP began operations in November 2013, and handled 1.14 million TEUs in 2015, growing its  volume by 35% over 2014 levels in its first full-year of operation, to become the largest container terminal at the Port of Santos. Santos is South America’s busiest container port, with over 3.7 million TEUs handled in 2015.

The container ship Maersk Saigon left the fairway and grounded near near buoy 2A at Santos port channel during departure from the terminal. Maersk Saigon was grounded during her departure manoeuvre at the BTP Terminal in Santos, Brazil. The vessel’s crew is safe and no one was injured, says a statement from the company. It is currently safely anchored awaiting inspections to assess possible damage before continuing to its destination. The Maersk Line ship  was operating on the ASAS service and was bound for Port Elizabeth, South Africa when the grounding occurred. No injuries were reported and there is no evidence of environmental pollution. The Port Authority has initiated an investigation to ascertain the cause of the incident and those responsible.

Louis Dreyfus Commodities and Cargill won an auction on Wednesday to operate a grains area at Santos Port, the first terminal to be leased by the government under a 2012 law meant to bring investment and upgrade infrastructure. Louis Dreyfus Commodities makes up 60 percent of the winning Consortium LDC Brasil BSL, while Cargill has 40 percent, the consortium said. It offered 303 million reais ($80 million), beating another proposal from Agrovia SA. The consortium is required to move 3.9 million tonnes by its third year of operation. Reporting by Priscila Jordão