Santos port heading for cargo record this year

Brazil’s Santos port, South America’s busiest, is seeing an uptick in activity despite the pandemic, whetting the appetite of potential bidders ahead of its planned privatization. 

The infrastructure ministry expects to report record high cargo handled by the São Paulo state port this year. 

In January-September, Santos handled just over 110Mt, up 10.2% compared with the same period 2019.

"With this, the expectation is to end the year with the best ever in history, above the 134Mt of 2019 – which was already a record," the ministry said in a statement. 

Nearly 27% of Brazil’s exports passed through Santos in the nine months, with China being the main destination. 

The Jair Bolsonaro administration is offering concessions for terminals at various ports and looks to advance with the privatization of Santos, considered the crown jewel, by 2022.

"In recent port terminal auctions we saw great interest both from companies linked to logistics and investment funds," Marcus Quintella, director of the transport department at prominent think tank Getulio Vargas Foundation, told BNamericas.

"Our ports still need to implement major improvements. This is essential to improve our exports. Brazil is one of the largest producers of pulp, agricultural products and iron ore, so it needs to have good ports to be able to export all of this," he added.