Santos sets August container record as cargo mix sharpens planning signals

The Port of Santos recorded its highest-ever August container throughput in 2026, handling 538,172 TEU, up 3.9% from August 2025, according to the Santos Port Authority (APS). The result brought the port’s January-August container total to 4,007,181 TEU, also a record for the period and likewise 3.9% above the prior-year comparison.

The wider cargo picture was positive but uneven. Total throughput in the first eight months reached 125.9 million tonnes, a 3.1% year-on-year increase. Export loadings rose 2.9% to 93.1 million tonnes and import discharges rose 3.6% to 32.8 million tonnes. August alone was less uniformly strong: total cargo fell 0.5% year on year to 16.4 million tonnes, as a 0.7% decline in loadings outweighed a 0.2% increase in discharges.

APS also reported records in bulk traffic. Liquid bulk reached 13.4 million tonnes in January-August, up 9.3%, while solid bulk reached 64.0 million tonnes, up 2.7%. In the solid-bulk segment, soybeans, sugar and soybean pellets were the principal commodities cited by APS. The authority said Santos accounted for 28% of Brazil’s foreign-trade flow over the eight-month period; China represented approximately 31.8% of the port’s international trade by origin or destination.

The official totals should be interpreted with care when comparing them with terminal or customs datasets. APS explains that its port statistics include private-use terminals and vessel bunker consumption, and count re-shipment movements on both discharge and reloading. Separately, ABTRA reported that import containers discharged for customs clearance at Santos in August were below the August 2025 level. This does not contradict the APS port-wide record, but it reinforces that total TEU growth can reflect a different mix of export, import, transhipment and terminal activity.

**Why this matters:** For carriers, terminals and cargo interests, the record confirms that Santos is operating under sustained container-flow intensity even though aggregate August tonnage softened slightly. Vessel operators should continue to validate berth windows, terminal cut-offs, empty-equipment positioning and inland handover capacity by service and commodity rather than relying on headline port growth. For cargo owners and insurers, the mixed pattern increases the value of contemporaneous evidence on gate-in, terminal receipt, loading sequence, condition exceptions and handover timestamps when delay, demurrage, cargo-condition or missed-connection issues arise.