Despite all the structural access problems, both by sea and land, Santos is still the largest container port in the country and is unlikely to lose this position in the near future. However, the port is currently experiencing a complex new configuration of excess capacity influenced by the regulation of ports, published in 2013, and also by the recent economic crisis that has affected the country since 2015. Thus, that old scenario of truck traffic jams, bottlenecked terminals and lack of handling capacity gave rise to a context of idleness, price wars and intense competition for cargo in a large part of the port.
Faced with this slowdown in demand and increased capacity offered, the large container terminals in Santos are facing the challenge of trying to maintain the levels of profitability and operational activity of previous years, which has been happening largely through storage. As it is an operation that does not depend on the use of a wet area, the main port terminals often preferred to focus on port operations and transferred the storage activity to the TRAs (Customsed Retroport Terminals), which carried out all the legal procedures for nationalization and customs clearance, in addition to all delivery logistics for the final customer of the cargo. However, this scenario has changed and today many terminals compete directly for this storage cargo, with the differential of carrying out the entire operation in the cargo unloading area itself, that is, without the need for an additional transport leg.
One of the main points of this new competitive reality in the storage market is the containers with fractional loads from multiple different customers, the so-called LCL (Less than Container Load). The unloading and nationalization operation of each of these fractional loads can generate a profitability comparable to that of a closed cargo container, that is, the operation of an LCL container of 10 different customers can reach the level of profitability of 10 containers of single customers , which makes this type of bonded storage very attractive.
Even with the possible recovery of the economy predicted for the coming years, Santos should not return to the previous scenario so soon. What is certain is that, at this moment of low demand, each link present in the port of Santos is trying to reinvent itself in search of new forms of income.
