en.Wedoany.com Reported - Brazil has inaugurated its first new container terminal in 13 years, located in the Suape Port-Industrial Complex (Complexo Industrial Portuário de Suape, PE), operated by APM Terminals, a subsidiary of the Maersk Group. The terminal can increase the region's container cargo handling capacity by up to 55%.
The terminal is expected to begin commercial operations in August, pending final approval from Brazil's National Waterway Transportation Agency (ANTAQ). The initial annual handling capacity is 400,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), with a second phase expected to be completed by 2028, increasing capacity to 600,000 TEUs per year. The company stated that with future additional investments, the area's potential handling capacity could reach 1.3 million TEUs. Covering approximately 495,000 square meters, the terminal features a 430-meter-long dock and a maximum water depth of 15.5 meters, with total investments exceeding 2 billion reais, of which about 235 million reais were used to procure electric equipment, making it Latin America's first fully electric container terminal.
Despite the expansion of port capacity, the main logistics bottleneck remains the lack of a railway connection. The railway segment linking Salgueiro to the port is still under review by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), which questions whether the feasibility study supporting the resumption of railway work remains current. A court decision a month ago imposed restrictions on signing new commitments related to the resumption of the project, but the opinion does not revoke existing contracts nor determine the project's final termination. Pernambuco Governor Raquel Lyra (PSD) stated that the federal government is attempting to separate the first batch of already tendered contracts from discussions on other railway segments. She believes the project has sufficient demand to support its implementation, and the state government is awaiting the outcome of a review of clarification objections raised against the rapporteur's ruling.
Leonardo Levy, Investment Director of APM Terminals Brazil, stated that the company has identified pent-up demand in the Northeast region, and close proximity to clients and shippers helps identify bottlenecks affecting the competitiveness of the import and export chain, primarily due to insufficient infrastructure. Levy also noted that while the company is increasing investments in existing terminals at Suape, Pecém, Santos, and Itapoá, it remains interested in new opportunities in the Brazilian market, regardless of the investment model—whether private-use terminals, concessions, public-private partnerships, or private collaborations.
The last entirely new container terminal was BTP (Brasil Terminal Portuário), inaugurated at the Port of Santos in 2013. Since then, national throughput capacity growth has primarily relied on expansions, modernizations, and operational efficiency improvements at existing facilities. This inauguration comes amid concerns about the ability of Brazilian ports to meet the expansion of container traffic. Research by consulting firm Macroinfra indicates that if new projects and expansions are not advanced, national infrastructure could reach operational limits by 2030. Based on data from Brazil's National Waterway Transportation Agency between 2015 and 2025, the study shows signs of saturation at major container handling hubs such as Santos, Paranaguá (PR), Itajaí/Navegantes (SC), and Itapoá, predicting that demand will reach 20.4 million TEUs by 2030, nearly exhausting the current available capacity of approximately 23 million TEUs. The industry is also discussing the Tecon 10 terminal project in Santos, with a design annual handling capacity of 3.5 million TEUs at full capacity. The project was once close to the auction stage but remains without a specific tender date due to disagreements over the bidding competition model.
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