Santos handled record volumes in 2024, passing five million TEU of container traffic for the first time and more than 170 million tonnes of cargo across all trades. It anchors a port range that runs from Rio de Janeiro down to the grain berths of Paranaguá and Itajaí and up to Suape and Pecém in the north-east. For owners whose vessels call this coast, the question of whether the ship can take power from the quay is starting to matter.
We deliver Alternative Maritime Power (AMP) retrofits for owners trading internationally, and Brazil is a case where the local picture genuinely differs from Europe or Asia. The regulatory clock is quieter, the shore-side build-out is early, and the electricity behind the socket is cleaner. Here is how that shapes the decision.
Why Santos anchors the South American port range
Santos is the busiest port in Latin America and the reference point for the whole South American range. It sits below São Paulo, moving containers alongside a large share of Brazil's agricultural exports, and it ended 2024 with about 5.4 million TEU and record total throughput. Around it, the Brazilian coast carries several distinct trades:
- Rio de Janeiro and the south-eastern ports, serving container and general cargo and the offshore oil and gas industry of the Campos and Santos basins
- Paranaguá and Rio Grande, among the country's principal grain and soy export gateways
- Itajaí and Navegantes in Santa Catarina, a concentrated container cluster
- Suape and Pecém in the north-east, industrial ports handling containers, fuels, steel and a growing green-hydrogen agenda
- The dedicated ore terminals that make Brazil one of the world's largest iron-ore exporters, feeding the long-haul bulk trades to Asia
That mix — container liners on tight rotations, bulkers sitting for days over grain and ore, and an offshore support fleet working the pre-salt fields — means the vessels calling Brazil span every category shore power touches. The berth times differ, but the auxiliary engines run in every case.
Does Brazil's renewable grid make shore power cleaner?
Yes, and by a wide margin. Shore power removes a vessel's combustion at the berth entirely, but its carbon benefit depends on what generates the electricity ashore. Brazil's grid is one of the cleanest of any major economy: renewable sources supplied roughly 88% of generation in 2024, with hydropower alone close to half, and wind and solar rising fast — the two crossed a third of monthly generation for the first time on record in 2025.
That changes the argument. In a port drawing on a coal-heavy grid, cold ironing eliminates local air pollution but only partly reduces carbon, because the emissions move to the power station. On the Brazilian grid, shore power displaces auxiliary diesel with genuinely low-carbon electricity, so the local air-quality gain at Santos or Rio comes with a real carbon reduction rather than a transfer. For owners weighing where a conversion pays back hardest across a trading pattern, Brazil sits at the favourable end.
Where do Santos and Brazilian ports stand on shore power today?
Honestly, at an early stage. There is no widespread operational onshore power supply across the Brazilian range yet, and we would be misleading owners to suggest otherwise. What exists is momentum: academic and port-level studies on shore power and its environmental impact at Santos, ANTAQ-level work on port decarbonisation and climate adaptation, and industry initiatives such as the UN Global Compact's Brazilian port-decarbonisation guidance developed with ports including Açu. The direction is set; the sockets are largely still to come.
For a shipowner, that is useful information rather than a reason to wait. It means Brazilian berths are unlikely to demand shore power on a short deadline the way EU TEN-T ports will from 2030 — but it also means a vessel engineered to plug in will be ready before the local infrastructure arrives, and ready for the stricter regions it also trades to.
Who regulates shore power and port emissions in Brazil?
Two federal bodies shape the picture. ANTAQ, the national waterway transport agency, regulates the port sector and has taken the lead on port sustainability, environmental performance measurement and decarbonisation cooperation. IBAMA, the federal environmental institute, handles environmental licensing and enforcement, and any fixed shore-power infrastructure at a port would sit within that licensing framework. At Santos specifically, the Santos Port Authority administers the port and its development plans, within a federal port model that has itself been under review.
For the vessel side of a retrofit, none of this changes the core engineering — the shore connection is still a class-approved modification to the ship. What the Brazilian framework affects is the shore-side infrastructure timetable and the environmental permitting behind it, which is the port's responsibility rather than the owner's.
Why plan a Santos shore-power retrofit during a scheduled yard period?
Because the vessel-side work is long-lead, and Brazil's early build-out gives owners the freedom to time it. A shore connection needs a load survey, class-approved drawings, and heavy electrical equipment — a shore-connection switchboard, a transformer, and a cable-management arrangement — each with real procurement lead times. Ordered against a scheduled docking rather than a regulatory scramble, that equipment lands on the dock date and the conversion is commissioned inside a yard period the owner already planned.
There is a second reason. Most vessels calling Santos do not trade there exclusively; they run to Europe, the Far East or North America as well, where the deadlines are firm. A conversion carried out to the international standard during a Brazilian rotation's next docking serves the FuelEU Maritime obligation in Europe and the mature Chinese network at the same time. The Brazilian call is the low-pressure window in which to complete the work the stricter regions will require anyway.
Frequently asked questions
- Is shore power available at the Port of Santos now?
- Not on a wide, operational basis. Santos and the broader Brazilian range are at an early stage: there are decarbonisation studies, port-authority interest and national policy momentum, but no general onshore power supply across the berths yet. Owners should treat Brazil as a region to be ready for, rather than one that will demand shore power on a near-term deadline.
- Is shore power in Brazil actually low-carbon?
- Yes. Brazil's electricity grid was roughly 88% renewable in 2024, dominated by hydropower with wind and solar growing quickly. Cold ironing at a Brazilian port therefore displaces auxiliary-engine diesel with genuinely low-carbon power, so the carbon reduction is real rather than a transfer to a fossil-heavy grid — a stronger environmental case than in many coal-dependent regions.
- Which authorities govern port emissions and shore power in Brazil?
- ANTAQ, the national waterway transport agency, regulates the port sector and leads on port decarbonisation and environmental performance. IBAMA handles federal environmental licensing, which covers fixed port infrastructure. At Santos, the Santos Port Authority administers the port. The ship-side shore-power installation remains a class-approved modification regardless of these bodies.
- Should we wait for Brazilian ports to install shore power before converting?
- Not if the vessel also trades to regulated regions. Because Brazil's build-out is early, converting now means the ship is ready before local infrastructure lands — and because the same connection satisfies the EU's 2030 requirements and China's existing rules, the work is not Brazil-specific. A scheduled Brazilian docking is a good, low-pressure window to complete it.