Ask a ship chandler in São Luís for a quotation, and the useful first reply is a question: which São Luís?
The name covers four delivery points with their own rules. Itaqui is the public port. Ponta da Madeira and Alumar are private terminals, each with its own gate and its own induction. Ships waiting for a berth take their stores at the anchorage, by boat. You get the same stores at all four, while the access and the lead time change with the delivery point.
An order addressed only to “São Luís” can reach the city on time and still miss the ship, with the truck waiting at a gate that has no slot for it.
Ship chandler in São Luís: the four delivery points
Itaqui, the public port
The Port of Itaqui is the public multipurpose port, run by EMAP, the Maranhão state port authority. Grain carriers loading soybeans and corn take a large share of the berths, alongside fertiliser, fuel and general cargo. The ship’s agency books gate access and the delivery slot, so put the agency’s name in your first message.
Ponta da Madeira, the iron ore terminal
Ponta da Madeira is Vale’s private terminal and the largest iron ore export terminal in Brazil. Valemaxes and other very large ore carriers load here at high rates and sail. Plan on one delivery window, and send a complete order before she berths. The terminal sets its own credential and access rules, separate from those of the public port.
Alumar, the alumina terminal
Alumar serves the alumina and aluminium plant of the same name. The terminal credentials the people and vehicles that enter, and it grants the delivery slot itself. A truck that turns up without that arranged comes back the next day.
The anchorage
We supply ships waiting for a berth at the anchorage off São Luís. The stores go out by supply boat, so the boat’s schedule and the tide shape the plan, and São Luís has one of the largest tidal ranges on the Brazilian coast. A delivery at anchor needs a different lead time from a delivery alongside. Tell us which one as soon as you know.
The stock is already in the city
Expect the plan to change at a bulk port. A berth slot at Itaqui can shift by half a day, an ore carrier’s ETA moves with the queue, and the agent can switch a delivery planned for the quay to the anchorage. A supplier trucking stores up from Santos or Rio hears about the change with the truck already days into the trip.
Our warehouse is in São Luís, with the cold rooms and the refrigerated trucks in the same building. When the window moves, we move the delivery, because the stock and the truck are already here. For you that means:
- Provisions stay cold to the ship’s side. Fresh and frozen stores leave our cold rooms in our own refrigerated trucks, and we hold the cold chain the whole way.
- A new delivery point keeps the same supplier. If the ship goes from the berth to the anchorage, the order stays with us and we change the delivery plan.
- We answer 24/7, in Portuguese and English.
Crews on the São Luís routes
Ore, grain and alumina bring many Chinese, Filipino and Indian crews to São Luís, and a galley order written for a European crew will not suit them. We stock rice, noodles, bok choy, tofu, soy sauce and tea, and we would rather you ask for an item than assume Brazil does not have it. Chinese owners and managers can reach us on WeChat through our São Luís page in Chinese.
Ordering for a call at São Luís
Send the requisition as a spreadsheet or a PDF, the way your system exports it, with:
- the vessel’s name and IMO number;
- the delivery point: Itaqui, Ponta da Madeira, Alumar or the anchorage, or the berth you expect if the agent has not confirmed it;
- the ETA, and each change to it;
- the agency handling the call;
- any bonded stores, flagged in the first message, because customs paperwork takes longer than the goods.
We quote back by e-mail, against that requisition, for that call.
Beyond São Luís
São Luís is our own operation. We also run a branch in Belém and work with partners at the other ports on our list, from the Amazon river to the south of Brazil. Tropical Ship Supply is IMPA member #2000113.
Planning a call at São Luís? Send the vessel, the IMO number, the delivery point, the ETA and the requisition to quotation@tropicalshipsupply.com and we will come back with a quotation.
