Santos and Ningbo Zhoushan Study Offshore Soybean Transshipment

The Port Authority of Santos, the company responsible for the public infrastructure of the Port of Santos, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese port of Ningbo Zhoushan to study offshore transfer of soybean cargo already on the coast, an activity that would increase transport efficiency.

The objective is to allow "capesize" vessels, which can carry more than 150,000 tons, to receive cargo at sea that was loaded at the Santos dock from smaller vessels.

The largest bulk carriers that dock in Santos are 80,000 tons, so offshore transshipment would allow for reduced freight costs and also increase the speed of the operation, as vessels could return faster to receive new cargo.

The agreement between Santos and Ningbo foresees studies to implement this loading model through a bilateral working group for information exchange.

Ningbo Zhoushan is the largest port in the world by cargo tonnage, with an annual movement exceeding 1.4 billion tons/year.