With three berths, vessels arrive at Wilson Sons’ container terminal berth quickly and efficiently: 26 container handling operations are completed per crane/hour on average, with four cranes operating simultaneously, a special feature in Brazil’s northeastern ports.
Fruit exports through Wilson Sons’ Salvador Container Terminal soared 304% between January and October, compared to the volumes handled in the same period last year. Operations involved 2,997 containers. The main highlights are lemon, mango, and grape exports. Other fruit types and related refrigerated cargo, such as fruit pulp and juices, are also exported through the Salvador terminal.
Shipments come from the North of Minas Gerais, Sergipe, and different parts of Bahia, including Vale do São Francisco, which accounts for 62% of Brazil’s grape production, which is exported to Europe and North America, leading consumers of Brazilian fruits, for which the Salvador terminal offers seven weekly calls.
Executive director of Salvador Container Terminal Demir Lourenço says that the good performance comes from the know-how and continuous investments in technology and equipment. “The Salvador terminal has stood out among exporters as a port with excellent infrastructure and operating capacity — agile and safe, from the arrival of trucks, which take about 26 minutes to enter and leave the site, through the cargo handling speed, operating with four cranes simultaneously. To achieve this, continued investment is imperative to make sure the Salvador terminal remains among the best-equipped first-class facilities in the world”, he says.
To support fruit exporters, Wilson Sons offers competitive advantages to make Salvador the container terminal of choice to export goods produced in Bahia and other Brazilian states. The terminal is just 500 kilometres from the main farms in Vale do São Francisco. It is equipped with technologies that speed up yard and vessel operations, such as online 24x7 scheduling, exclusive gates for reefer cargo and systemic integration with consenting authorities to ensure fast shipping authorization. In addition to cargo inspections during the week, carried out on the platform of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, it provides Monday inspections for cargo received over the weekend, which optimizes the flow and decisions from the consenting authorities.
