Pecem Volume Growth

APM Terminals Pecém, located in the northern Brazilian port city in Ceará State, registered a 32% growth in container volume (measured in TEUs) in the 1st Quarter of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016.

Export growth was driven by increased shipments of refrigerated fruits, which increased by 29% in the first the months of the year, compared with the year prior, as well as growth in exports of construction products, plastics and shoes. Imports of iron and other heavy industry products also increased. The growth in volumes in Pecém was due also in part to new infrastructure improvements made at the facility, including an expanded quay and new container handling technology and equipment.

Located 32 miles from Ceará’s state capital of Fortaleza in North-eastern Brazil, the Port of Pecém is the closest Brazilian port to both the USA and Europe and is a major exit port for refrigerated cargo as transit time between Pecém and New York or Algeciras is as short as six days. In 2008, APM Terminals assumed operational and management responsibility for Ceará Terminal Operator, the stevedoring and container terminal operating company at the Port of Pecém, now operating as APM Terminals Pecém. 

The terminal, which handled 178,000 TEUs in 2016, installed two new STS cranes in the summer of 2016 as part of a USD $30 million equipment upgrade in order to prepare the port to accommodate increased liner business. The two STS cranes now in service at the port are among the largest in Brazil, with a reach of 22-containers wide, able to handle vessels of up to 400 meters in length and 56 meters in width. The port also offers a 15.2-meter depth to accommodate the larger vessels now beginning to call the South American trade lanes, the opening of the expanded Panama Canal locks.

The Brazilian government has projected a quadrupling of exports by 2030. Along with APM Terminals Pecém, APM Terminals’ operations in Brazil include APM Terminals Itajaí, at Brazil’s second-busiest container port complex, and interests in Brasil Terminal Portuário, at the Port of Santos, Brazil’s largest port, and Terminal de Contêineres de Paranaguá, the third-largest.