Brazil Opens Santos Mega Terminal Bid To Global Carriers
Brazil has indicated that container shipping lines will be allowed to bid for the highly anticipated Tecon Santos 10 terminal project at the Port of Santos, reversing an earlier court-backed restriction that had threatened to exclude major global operators from the process.
The move follows months of legal and regulatory uncertainty surrounding the planned greenfield container terminal, widely regarded as the most important port infrastructure project currently under development in Brazil.
A previous ruling by a Brazilian Federal Court had barred shipping lines from participating in the auction due to concerns over vertical integration and the potential concentration of market power within the country’s busiest port. However, the decision was challenged by the body responsible for managing Brazil’s public-private investment partnerships, which argued that the court had failed to provide sufficient legal or regulatory justification for excluding shipping companies.
Under the revised guidance, major operators including APM Terminals, MSC, CMA CGM and DP World will be permitted to bid for Tecon10 according to reports, provided they submit irrevocable agreements to divest their stakes in existing Santos terminals before signing any concession contract.
The auction process itself has faced repeated delays and political scrutiny. At the end of April, Brazil’s Ministry of Ports and Airports instructed transport regulator Antaq to suspend the tender in order to reassess technical, legal and competition-related aspects of the project in coordination with the presidential chief of staff’s office.
The estimated $1.3bn Tecon Santos 10 development is expected to increase container handling capacity at Santos by around 50%. The terminal will cover 621,900 square metres at the Saboó quay and is projected to offer static capacity of 3.5m teu under an initial 25-year concession, renewable for up to 70 years.
