The Port of Santos registered, from January to September 2026, the highest cargo movement volume in its history for the period. In the first nine months of the year, shipments and disembarkments at Latin America's largest port totaled 141.4 million tons, with a 2.0% growth over the previous mark, recorded in the same period last year.
Shipments totaled 104.3 million tons, an increase of 1.6%, while disembarkments reached 37.1 million, a growth of 2.9%. The result was driven by the movement of containerized general cargo, which totaled 47 million tons in the period, with a growth of 3.2%.
Container movement reached the mark of 4.52 million TEU in the January-September period (+3.5%), also a record for the period. TEU is the standard measure for containers.
With 71.2 million tons accumulated, the movement of solid bulk grew by 0.8%, while that of liquid bulk (7.9 million) decreased by 5.6%.
Rains hinder the month of September
With atypical rains for the month, September 2026 registered a significant drop of 6.3% in cargo movement compared to the same month of the previous year, with 15.5 million tons. The drop occurred in both shipments, which totaled 11.22 million tons (-7.8%), and disembarkments, with 4.28 million (-2.1%).
The result was hampered by the movement of solid bulk, which decreased by 13.4%. For example, the loading and unloading of cargoes such as corn (a drop of 41.5%) and sugar (-22.3%) must be suspended during rains.
On the other hand, the movement of liquid bulk reached, in September 2026, the best mark in the historical series for the month, with 1.8 million tons (best historical mark for the month, 0.8% higher than September 2025). In the same direction, container operations reached a record of 518.6 thousand TEU in September of this year (an advance of 0.6%).
Importance of the Port of Santos for Brazil
The accumulated participation of the Port of Santos in Brazilian trade flow was 27.7% in the first nine months of the year, reaching US$140.8 billion. In the period, China maintained its condition as the main trading partner: about 30.8% of national commercial transactions with abroad that passed through the Port of Santos had the Asian country as origin or destination (US$43.4 billion).
São Paulo was the state with the largest participation in foreign trade transactions through the Port of Santos in the first nine months of 2026, with 50.1% of the total.
