Plug-in port: Brazilian Port of Santos electrifies DP World terminal

A major port in Brazil is switching some of its heavy equipment from diesel to electric. DP World, which runs a container terminal at the Port of Santos, is adding 15 battery-electric terminal trucks (the vehicles that move shipping containers around the yard) and three electric reach stackers, a type of crane-like machine used to lift and stack containers. The move is part of a larger $1.6 billion Real expansion meant to let the terminal handle more than 2 million shipping containers a year by 2028.

This is the first phase of a bigger plan. By the end of 2027, DP World expects to have 44 electric terminal tractors, three electric reach stackers, four new electric cranes for loading ships, and 15 electric gantry cranes (large cranes on wheels that stack containers) running at the site.

None of this involves homeowners directly, since it's about industrial port equipment rather than home energy systems. But it's part of a wider pattern of ports and shipping operations moving toward electric equipment. DP World has run similar electric trucks at its terminal in Callao, Peru, where diesel use dropped nearly 30 percent between January and April of this year compared with 2024, cutting expected carbon emissions by more than 500 tons. That kind of shift in freight and shipping is one piece of the broader move away from fossil fuels that also shows up closer to home, in things like electric vehicles and heat pumps.