Brasil Terminal Portuário has begun the Samba service in its terminal. The service connects ports in South America and Europe, and consists of two weekly sails – one serving the southern route and another the north route.
The first vessel to call was Maersk Lanco that berthed on the 17th of August. It was making its way from the South American continent while stopping at European ports.
Following that, Maersk Lins arrived on the 18th of August with an opposite sea route, coming from Europe to a Southern South America destination.
These vessels are two of 16 ‘SAMMAX’ vessels designed to fit the dimensions of South American ports, but after a year of operations it was the first time that a Maersk Line vessel of its size was able to operate satisfactorily at BTP due to dredging delays.
“With the beginning of Samba, we can complete all services scheduled for this year,” says Alan Lear, Commercial and Marketing Director of BTP.
The stretch 4 of the channel, where BTP terminal is located, is now 12.6 meters deep, enabling the arrival of larger vessels with an average capacity of 7,000 TEUs.
According to the CEO of BTP, Henry Robinson “the new authorised depth of the channel starts to restore the competitive equity among terminals installed along the Port”.
The berths of the terminal are also already prepared for the mooring of larger vessels, presenting 12.8 and 12.9 meters of operational draught, which ranks BTP at the same operational position of the other port terminals installed in Santos.
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