Six consecutive days of nonstop rain in Brazil's Santos port has hampered vessels' loading operations and is likely to reduce the pace of discharge in the terminals, according to Kingsman, an agricultural analysis unit of Platts.
Since Sunday, it has rained almost 130 mm (5.11 inches), according to a Somar weather forecast, while the monthly historical average is 162.3 mm.
Santos port is the largest port in Latin America, and most of the sugar produced in Center-South Brazil is exported from there. Sugar exports through Santos in 2014 represented 57% of total Brazilian exports at 24.13 million mt, data from the Agriculture Ministry showed. Sugar exports through Santos from January through September totaled nearly 16.4 million mt, which represented 71% of total Brazilian sugar exports.
"The sugar terminals are almost at full capacity," a local source said. "Terminals are starting to reduce their trucks and trains discharge by 50%, and if the rain persists, the pace of discharge can be even lower than 50% of current capacity."
"One of the main terminals can discharge more than 45,000 mt of sugar per day. This issue is not only a problem for sugar, but also for grains," the source said. "Corn and soybean shipments has been affected, too."
Somar's weather forecast shows that the rain will not cease until November 19. From Friday until November 19, the accumulated rain should reach 119 mm.
The rain is likely to break by November 9 and 10 in the morning, but in the afternoon should return, when 3 mm of rain is expected both days, Somar data showed. This small period of drought can open a window to discharge because vessels berthed can operate and load some volume.
The queue of ships waiting to berth at the port is likely to increase dramatically. Latest line-up from vessels agent Williams shows four vessels currently berthed at three sugar terminals. There are eight vessels waiting to berth, and 18 vessels are expected to arrive in the port through November 15, according to Williams. The total sugar volume to load into the vessels is 1.03 million mt.
