APM Terminals Pecém Registers A Growth Of 10% In 2020, Despite COVID Crisis

APM Terminals Pecém (Brazil) marked several achievements in the past year. The Terminal grew volumes by double digits in 2020, reaching 387 717 TEUs handled. The figures represent an increase of about 10% compared to 2019, with main drivers being exports of reefer units and imports.

Cabotage grew 5% in total volume compared to 2019, recording about 330 000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) handled during 2020. With this, cabotage continues to represent the majority of the terminal’s moves with about 85% of the total volume. APM Terminals Pecém offers 6 cabotage lines connecting the south to the northeast of the country and Manaus, being a strategic location for export and import.

In terms of long-haul loads, APM Terminals Pecém recorded a 49% growth compared to 2019. Export and import account for 15% of the total volume handled.

Image Credits: apmterminals.com

Pecém also stands out at a national level, with the Terminal showing the highest growth in Brazil in 2020. According to data from Datamar, in 2020 APM Terminals Pecém ranked first in the growth of exports, with an index of 46.6%, and occupied second place in imports, with an increase of 19.56%.

Daniel Rose, Managing Director of APM Terminals Pecém, comments: “We started the year with a growth perspective between 5% and 6%, however the pandemic forced us to prepare for various scenarios, including a volume drop”. Daniel Rose also points out that it took resilience and dedication to face the pandemic, protecting people’s lives and at the same time, keeping the focus on the quality of services provided.

“Our work could not – and cannot – stop, so we adopted all possible safety measures and continued to operate with quality and, gradually, we saw the volumes grow surprisingly”, he highlights.

Pecém regains No. 1 position in the northeast fruit export market

Impressive numbers are to a large extent the result of strong performance of the fruit industry. The region’s fruit export market was responsible for this growth, where APM Terminals Pecém grew by 13% in the market share to 33%, becoming one of the ports that exported the most fruits in the Northeast region.

In addition to the significant market share growth, APM Terminals Pecém recorded a 73% increase in container moves for the 2020/2021 fruit harvest season, being the main export terminal and the facility of choice for the principal exporters in the region.

For André Magalhães, Head of Commercial at APM Terminals Pecém, the achievements of 2020 underline the terminal’s strong focus on customers and their business needs.

“We adopted Lean culture in all our departments, focusing on continuous improvement, standardisation of processes and reduction of waste. Our commitment is to offer a world-class standard experience, whether for customers arriving by ship or entering via terminal gate”, comments Magalhães.

“The advantage of Lean culture is that the resulting productivity improvements not only reduce waste, but also generate value, trust and security for customers, enabling a more effective and efficient logistics chain for everyone”, he explains.

Magalhães also highlights infrastructure as an important factor, attracting larger ships and more services to the region. “We have full capacity to absorb this potential. For example, we operate with two Super-Post-Panamax cranes, which increases operational capacity and reduces the operating time on ships at the port.”

Other benefits of the terminal include a 100% operational scanner, automatic scheduling for delivery and removal of containers or 1,200 reefer plugs (the largest in the region), which reduces waiting time for trucks and maintains desired temperature of the cargo as agreed with the customer.

In 2020, APM Terminals Pecém carried out a pier extension, with the inauguration of a new cradle by the State Government, which increased the capacity to receive two ships docked simultaneously and thus reduced the downtime between the operation of the vessels. The terminal is part of a small group of facilities in Brazil that can handle vessels of 366 m of length and 15.3 m of draught and can receive a new family of super ships with a capacity of more than 12,000 TEU.

Moves on the rise in 2021

After a year of significant growth in operational numbers, APM Terminals Pecém continues its development and has recorded the best January result in container operations. During the first two months of 2021, the terminal handled more than 65,400 TEUs, representing a growth of 15.9% compared to 2020. Much of this growth is a result of increased cargo moves in cabotage, with February volumes at approximately 54,000 TEUs, 17% more than the same period in 2020. Cargo exports also stood out with an increase of 26.8%.

Reference: apmterminals.com

Source: Maritime Shipping News