en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Brazilian government has put forward a proposal that would allow container shipping companies to participate in the bidding for the new Tecon10 greenfield terminal at the Port of Santos. Previously, the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts had instructed the shipping regulator Antaq to rule that shipping companies be excluded from the bidding process, citing concerns over vertical integration and the concentration of competition among existing terminal operators. These existing operators include APM Terminals, MSC, CMA CGM, and DP World.
The Brazilian Investment Partnerships Program, which is responsible for the country's public-private partnership investment projects, recently sent a technical note to the Ministry of Ports, stating that the Federal Court of Accounts failed to provide sufficient justification for excluding shipping companies. IPP officials wrote in the document: "In addition to not seeing competitive reasons to prohibit shipowners from participating in the bidding, Antaq also did not point out any regulatory reasons for adopting this practice." They added: "On the contrary, it concluded that such participation could bring productive, distributive, and social efficiency."
The IPP also slightly relaxed the conditions for existing terminal operators at Santos to bid for Tecon10. The new guidelines clarify that APMT, MSC, CMA CGM, and DP World may participate in the bidding if "before signing the new contract, they have submitted to the competent authority an irrevocable and unalterable document of sale of their equity stakes in other terminals at the port." This "resolves the identified risk of any participant frivolously delaying divestment and threatening operations," and notes that "if the aforementioned divestment fails to occur, the public authorities will not suffer losses, as the second-place participant in the bidding can be called upon." The IPP document added: "The greater the competition in the auction, the higher the chance of selecting the most efficient partner, who will reduce Brazil's logistics costs and contribute to the industrial chain."
Furthermore, the minimum bid amount has been doubled to 1 billion reais (approximately US$93.25 million), up from the previously set 500 million reais. The debate over bidding qualifications has continued to delay the auction process for Tecon10. The inquiry documents were originally scheduled for release last year and are now expected to be issued in the second half of this year, though there are also concerns about a possible delay to 2027.
The Tecon10 project will construct four new berths in the Saboo area of Santos, with an estimated cost of US$1.1 billion, increasing the port's annual handling capacity to 3 million TEUs and boosting total annual capacity by approximately 50% to 9 million TEUs. According to data from the Santos Port Authority, the port handled slightly over 5.9 million TEUs last year, a 7.7% increase compared to 2024.
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