Brazil's Tecon Santos 10 Terminal Bidding Model to Submit Evaluation Results in October

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 1, the technical working group established by the Brazilian federal government for the Tecon Santos 10 container terminal project at the Port of Santos in São Paulo State is expected to complete its evaluation of the auction model and submit a report in October. The Brazilian National Secretariat of Ports will review the report and subsequently resubmit the project to the National Waterway Transportation Agency (ANTAQ) for processing. No official auction date has been set for the project yet.

Tecon Santos 10 is located in the Saboó area of the Port of Santos, with a planned land area of approximately 621,975 square meters, and is a lease project involving the redevelopment of an existing port area. According to current ANTAQ project documents, the initial lease term is 25 years, with estimated capital expenditure of approximately 6.455 billion reais and a total contract value of approximately 43.647 billion reais over the full contract period.

The core controversy over the project's bidding model centers on whether existing container terminal operators at the Port of Santos and shipping companies can participate in the first round of bidding. The previously proposed two-stage model restricted existing container terminal operators and shipping companies from participating in the first stage, allowing them to enter the second stage only if no valid bids were received in the first round. In April 2026, Brazil's Ministry of Ports and Airports requested a suspension of the project's bidding process to reassess the relevant technical, legal, and competitive arrangements.

The Brazilian government subsequently established a technical working group in July to re-examine the bidding model. The working group has held multiple rounds of meetings, and the National Secretariat of Ports plans to resubmit the project documents to ANTAQ after completing its internal review in October. ANTAQ had previously conducted public hearings on the project and updated the bidding documents, draft contract, feasibility study, and related technical materials between June and July.

Under the current project plan, once completed, Tecon Santos 10 will become one of the large container terminals at the Port of Santos, with a planned static handling capacity of approximately 3.5 million TEU, and will be used to increase the port's container handling capacity. The Saboó area where the project is located is currently used by multiple temporary or existing operating entities, and the future lease will involve the integration of the existing port area.