Wilson Sons certifies an unprecedented reduction of up to 55% in greenhouse gas emissions from Santa Clara Container Terminal cargo operations

With permanent focus on sustainable operations, Wilson Sons, which is among the leading port and maritime logistics operator in Brazil, produced an unprecedented result for Brazil’s logistics industry at Santa Clara Container Terminal, in Rio Grande do Sul. It has developed a calculation methodology based on the Brazilian Greenhouse Gas Program, validated by SGS, a world leader in inspection, verification, testing and certification. Using this methodology, Wilson Sons calculated greenhouse gases from cargo handled at Santa Clara waterway terminal, located in Triunfo, and concluded that 55% less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are produced on the waterway compared to road transportation.

This reduction confirms a continual concern about introducing Environmental, Social and Governance actions across its value chain in order to support the shipping industry.

The study compared river and road transport on the route between Santa Clara and Rio Grande Container Terminals, and found that, by transporting containers on the road, carbon dioxide equivalent emissions may reach 0.196 tons of CO2e per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), which is twice as much as emissions from river transport. The calculation is based on a barge with 90% occupancy, which is the actual average terminal occupancy rate.

Since 2009, Wilson Sons has prioritized the UN Global Compact ten sustainable development goals and has been working on a range of initiatives to decarbonize the port and maritime logistics industry. “The study findings are a milestone in the history of cargo transportation in Brazil, as they portray the efforts that have been made to reduce emissions, promote multimodality and help the terminal meet its clients’ sustainability goals, since they benefit from carrying out their logistics operations via waterways,” says Cleiton Lages, Environment and Safety Manager at Rio Grande Container Terminal. “Since the start of operations, over 32,000 tons of carbon emissions have been reduced with the employment of inland navigation,” Lages adds.

“It is highly rewarding to see that Santa Clara is helping to diversify the Brazilian logistics network. Inland navigation has been an important ally for businesses in their decarbonization goals, and Santa Clara Container Terminal has demonstrated its efficiency in this regard,” says Paulo Bertinetti, CEO of Rio Grande Container Terminal. “In addition to offering greater efficiency in operating costs, waterway transportation is also considerably cleaner and safer. We are able to develop more competitive logistics projects from the point of view of logistics costs, which offer less risk of accidents and damage to our clients' cargo, in addition to supporting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” Bertinetti says.

“Santa Clara Container Terminal was the first logistics operator we served for this type of comparative validation audit in Brazil. We are very pleased with these initiatives, since transportation and logistics companies are part of an industry that faces major challenges in meeting the decarbonization agenda, which impacts the sustainability goals of many other sectors,” says Gustavo Venda, Business Development Manager at SGS in Brazil. “External validation of sustainability results is very important to provide greater assertiveness and credibility to the statements. Helping more companies to achieve significant progress in their ESG agenda is a key piece in SGS’s work globally,” Venda adds.

Resins, timber, frozen chicken, rubber, and household items represent 80% of the goods transported through Santa Clara. The goods — for import, export and national transport — have their origin or destination in the cities of Farroupilha, Carlos Barbosa, Garibaldi, Caxias do Sul, Triunfo, Veranópolis, Cruz Alta, Lajeado, Taquari and Serafina Corrêa, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. With eight years of operation, Santa Clara was recognized by Brazil’s Ministry of Infrastructure as one of the best facilities in Brazil, in the Portos + Brasil Award, in the category Container Handling in Private Terminals.

Santa Clara started its operations with one barge owned by Navegação Guarita, in October 2016, when an association of Wilson Sons and Braskem reactivated Pier IV and brought back waterway cargo transport between Triunfo and the Port of Rio Grande. Two years later, Wilson Sons expanded its capacity by providing one more barge, offering four weekly services. Wilson Sons has recently added 33% to the operational capacity of Santa Clara Container Terminal. The expansion took place with the addition of barge Guaíba, of 160 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), replacing the old one, of 120 TEUs.