Fog closure halts Santos navigation for more than six hours, testing berth and laytime discipline

Navigation at the Port of Santos was suspended from 03:20 to 09:45 on 26 September after dense fog reduced visibility in the access channel. Reports by CBN Santos and CNN Brasil, both citing the Capitania dos Portos de São Paulo and the São Paulo pilotage service, state that the restriction stopped ship movements until conditions improved and navigation was released in the morning.

This was a safety-driven interruption rather than a reported casualty or terminal failure. Nevertheless, a closure of more than six hours at Santos can have consequences beyond the immediate operating window. Arrivals awaiting pilotage, departures requiring tidal or berth sequencing, and vessels scheduled for shifting may all need to be resequenced after reopening. The operational effect depends on terminal readiness, berth occupancy, draft restrictions, weather evolution and the number and type of ships accumulated on either side of the channel.

The disruption came one day after Santos Port Authority reported that the port handled 125.9 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2026, up 3.1% year on year. Exports reached 93.1 million tonnes and imports 32.8 million tonnes. August throughput alone was 16.4 million tonnes. Those figures underline the scale of the port system affected by even a relatively short navigation stoppage: Santos is a major gateway for agricultural commodities, fertilizers, fuels, steel-related cargoes and containerised trade.

For dry-bulk interests, the immediate issue is not necessarily cargo damage but schedule integrity and the evidence trail around delay. Masters and operators should retain pilot-order records, VTS or port communications, bridge logs, notices of readiness, terminal messages and updated ETAs. Charterers, owners and cargo interests should distinguish time lost in the channel closure from subsequent waiting caused by berth congestion or cargo-readiness constraints. Whether time counts for laytime, demurrage or dispatch will depend on the governing charterparty terms, notices and the factual sequence; the fog closure alone should not be assumed to decide that question.

**Why this matters:** Santos has returned to operation, but recovery should be assessed vessel by vessel. A single closure can shift berth windows and cargo-cut-off plans into later tide, pilotage and terminal cycles. Prompt, time-stamped documentation is particularly valuable where a short meteorological interruption develops into a longer queueing or contractual-delay dispute.