en.Wedoany.com Reported - APM Terminals and TiL (Terminal Investment Limited), the terminal operator under Mediterranean Shipping Company, have submitted a new proposal to Brazil's competition regulator Cade, once again seeking approval to bid for the Tecon 10 container terminal development project at the Port of Santos, the country's main container gateway.

According to the Tecon 10 tender rules set by Brazil's National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) and approved by the Federal Audit Court, existing terminal operators at the port—APM Terminals and MSC's BTP (Brasil Terminal Portuario, BTP), CMA CGM's Santos Brasil, and DP World's Embraport—are barred from the initial bidding round due to anti-competitive concerns, unless they first sell these facilities. If no suitable bids are received in the first round, these operators will be eligible to participate in the second round.

The Office of the President of Brazil has issued a position paper advocating for the removal of these barriers, but it appears unlikely to change Antaq's stance, as doing so would undermine its legal autonomy.

According to Brazilian business media, APM Terminals and TiL—each holding a 50% stake in BTP—have submitted a proposal to Cade stating that the two companies will jointly bid for Tecon 10, and if one wins, the other will acquire its 50% stake in BTP.

Brazilian liner analysis firm Datamar noted that this move aims to help resolve one of the main controversies surrounding the auction: whether shipping groups that already control container terminals in Santos should be allowed to bid for the new concession. APM Terminals and TiL have requested Cade to review this potential acquisition under a fast-track procedure and grant unconditional approval, arguing that the existing ownership and competitive relationship between Maersk and MSC through BTP will not materially change if full control is transferred to one party.

According to Datamar data, BTP holds approximately a 35% market share of total container volume in Santos. Last year, its revenue was $412 million, and it has handled slightly over 440,000 TEUs so far this year.

The Tecon 10 project will build four new berths in the Saboo area of Santos, with an estimated cost of $1.1 billion. It will add an annual handling capacity of 3 million TEUs to the port, increasing its total capacity by about 50% to 9 million TEUs.

Last year, Maersk launched a legal challenge in Brazil seeking to overturn the rule barring existing operators from bidding for Tecon 10, but a Brazilian judge ruled that a public hearing was unnecessary because the Tecon 10 tender process was still under Antaq review. The ruling affirmed Antaq's adjudicatory legitimacy in the process.