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Brazil Begins Exporting Raw Coffee Beans Using Bulk Carriers! Can Coffee Bean Quality Still Be Guaranteed?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Recently, a bulk carrier crossing the Atlantic has attracted the attention of coffee bean traders. The reason is that Singapore-based trading company Olam International chartered a bulk carrier named Eagle to transport coffee beans. Due to the impact of the pandemic, the entire shipping industry is facing severe container shortages, resulting in

Recently, a bulk carrier crossing the Atlantic has caught the attention of coffee bean traders. The reason is that Singapore-based trading company Olam International chartered a bulk carrier named Eagle to transport coffee beans.

The Shipping Crisis and Coffee Industry Response

Due to the impact of the pandemic, the entire shipping industry is facing a severe container shortage. Trapped by supply chain bottlenecks in the container shipping market, the coffee industry is facing an unprecedented supply chain crisis. Many raw coffee beans are accumulated in port warehouses unable to be exported, and multiple countries have also seen rising coffee prices due to export delays. To alleviate the serious cargo backlog and delay issues, the industry has had to revert to coffee bean transportation methods from twenty or thirty years ago—using bulk carriers for coffee bean exports.

Risks of Bulk Carrier Transportation

In fact, using bulk carriers to transport coffee beans involves very significant risks! During transportation, coffee beans are extremely susceptible to weather influences, or when stored long-term in humid cabin environments, the quality of coffee beans becomes uncontrollable. Besides being prone to moisture and mold, sea breeze exposure also alters the flavor expression of coffee beans. Therefore, starting from the late 1980s and early 1990s, coffee traders stopped using bulk carriers to transport coffee beans, gradually switching to containers that provide protection from wind and rain and offer higher dryness levels.

This time, the bulk carrier is transporting Robusta coffee beans from Indonesia. Departing from Lampung, Sumatra, passing through the Mediterranean and crossing the Atlantic, it's heading to the United States, which is severely lacking coffee supply. This also marks the first time in over 20 years that the industry has once again used bulk carriers to export coffee beans.

Arabica Beans Also Being Transported via Bulk Carriers

Reading this, one might think that if it's just transporting Robusta beans, that's acceptable, since they don't have much flavor to speak of anyway. However, besides this bulk carrier transporting Robusta beans, another bulk carrier loaded with Arabica coffee beans has already departed from Brazil and is on its way to Europe.

Cooxupe, Brazil's largest coffee cooperative, also chartered a general cargo ship in early December to export 108,000 bags (60kg per bag) of Arabica coffee beans to Europe. The company also plans to continue exporting two more batches of Arabica coffee beans via bulk carriers in January 2022.

Challenges and Costs

According to the head of Cooxupe Cooperative: Loading and unloading coffee beans are both challenges. Without containers, bagged coffee beans are loaded one by one and removed one by one. However, only some ports have sufficient equipment to lift bagged coffee beans from ship holds... Since ships must remain at sea, the loading process is extremely susceptible to weather conditions. Any rain or high humidity requires stopping operations, so Cooxupe originally estimated it would take two days to load bagged coffee beans onto the general cargo ship, but it ultimately took five days to complete loading. The actual costs were also higher than initially estimated, forcing the company to renegotiate with customers to increase shipping rates.

Industry Outlook

Despite the significant risks and unstable costs, many traders have decided to try this method to solve logistics bottlenecks. This high-risk transportation method is still preferable to coffee beans being accumulated in warehouses for extended periods. After all, port warehouse space is also limited, and if exports don't happen soon, even storage may become a problem.