Port of Santos Grows Despite Everything

SÃO PAULO – Since the Port of Santos is not located in deep-water regions, and the future of the seas, as everything indicates, will belong to mega-ships requiring significant draught, some predict the decline of the port complex over the years. However, for now, it is evident that despite the many problems that arise, the port continues to grow, and the Santos Port Authority (SPA), the Port Authority, works to improve its operations, attracting more and more cargo, keeping it at the forefront in the national port scenario.

One of the issues that arise is the irregular lack of dredging services, which the Port Authority has recently reduced the draught in another docking berth. This time, it was on the left bank, in the municipality of Guarujá, in an area intended for handling bulk solids. This is the sixth berth to lose draught since January 6, 2022.

Obviously, if new berths experience a lack of depth, the operations of the country’s main port complex could be compromised in a short time. This is because there is a legal issue between SPA and the company DTA Engenharia, responsible for dredging services. Out of the 97,000 cubic meters that were supposed to be dredged, only 44.9 thousand cubic meters have been dredged so far, which is only 46% of the total volume available.

This legal battle could further harm port operations because SPA and DTA do not have the same understanding of the contract term they entered into. As a result, the Dutch company Van Oord, the winner of the last bidding process, cannot fulfill the commitment made with SPA last year. For DTA, the contract ends in April 2022 but can be extended until 2025. For SPA, the contract ended in January 2020. After favorable decisions for both sides, the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region determined, on January 17th, the temporary maintenance of the contract between SPA and DTA.

While this issue slowly progresses through the courts, what is expected is that SPA will work to improve the port’s infrastructure, especially for container operations. It is worth remembering that the current capacity of the port is 5.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), but SPA, the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq), and the Ministry of Infrastructure (Minfra) are already preparing the auction for a new area, STS 10, which should take place in the second half of this year.

SPA’s plans also include expanding the infrastructure of terminal STS 53 for handling fertilizers since currently, due to a lack of installed capacity, the Port Authority cannot fully meet the volume of fertilizers produced in its area of influence.

Despite these problems, the port of Santos continues to operate at full steam, as they used to say in the past, accounting for 27% of Brazilian foreign trade. In 2021, it once again set a record for cargo handling, reaching 147 million tons, 0.3% higher than in 2020.

In fact, increases in container, soybean, and fertilizer handling were decisive for this result. Import cargo stood out with a 10.4% increase, totaling 43.9 million tons. Meanwhile, export cargo saw a 3.5% reduction, reaching 103.1 million tons, while containerized cargo showed significant growth of 14.2%, expanding handling to 4.8 million TEUs. These numbers show that the Port of Santos will continue to be the country’s main maritime complex for many years to come.

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Liana Lourenço Martinelli, lawyer, postgraduate in Business Management and International Trade, is the Manager of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) at the Fiorde Group, consisting of Fiorde International Logistics, FTA Transport, Warehouses, and Barter International Trade. Email: lianalourenco@fiorde.com.br. Website: fiorde.com.br.

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