Antaq’s new system to monitor port investments in Santos and across Brazil

System will monitor mandatory investments established in port lease agreements (Alexsander Ferraz/AT)

The Agência Nacional de Transportes Aquaviários (Antaq) is implementing the Investment Monitoring System (SAI), which will enable faster monitoring of the flow of investments in the port sector. The digital tool replaces the manual submission of information by regulated entities, and the submission deadline will be reduced from six months to two months. Companies will have 60 days to adapt. Currently, the agency monitors 110 contracts nationwide.

“The impacts occur mainly on two fronts: greater efficiency in the workflow and increased transparency. The Investment Programming and Results Monitoring Report (Rapir) process will become 100% digital, eliminating manual paper-based controls. The tool performs automatic percentage calculations, immediately flags delays and provides pre-structured data for analysis”, Antaq Director-General Frederico Dias told A Tribuna .

Dias explained that the system will monitor mandatory investments established in lease agreements, the issuance of infrastructure incentive debentures linked to port infrastructure, investments supporting tariff review proceedings and the completion of investments, “including those that do not involve construction works, known as built.”

Antaq monitors 110 contracts nationwide: 56 lease agreements and 54 private port facilities under the supervision of the Grupo Especializado de Fiscalização (GEF), in addition to nine port authorities and six issuances of infrastructure incentive debentures.

The agency’s Director-General also explained that the completion and online submission of the Rapir will be carried out by the companies themselves, through their technical managers and financial departments. “They formally assume responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the information provided.”

Dias said the data will be submitted every two months, and companies will have to report the global amount (the project’s original financial baseline); the physical percentage (the degree of physical execution of the work or intervention); the total amount invested (comparative data between the planned and executed amounts, on a cumulative basis); unplanned investment (contributions and expenditures made outside the scope originally approved); and the amount invested during the period (the amount applied strictly during the reference two-month period).

He highlighted that the new tool increases transparency. “Each report will now have traceable identification, with a registration number and period linked to the contract and to the process in the Sistema Eletrônico de Informações (SEI), in addition to providing standardized and comparable data across different companies and regions.”

Alert

The Investment Monitoring System (SAI) will allow comparisons between projected, planned, executed and adjusted amounts. When the executed amount is lower than the planned amount, the system itself will fill in the observations tab with a delay alert. The rule establishes the trigger for situations in which execution falls below 90% of the planned level.

The workflow will involve the companies, the port authority and the inspection team. In lease agreements, the report will first be pending review by the port authority and will then be forwarded to Antaq’s inspection department. The document may be returned for adjustments or additional information before validation and completion.

Antaq Director-General Frederico Dias said the tool will not replace technical analysis. “The system acts as an organizer and facilitator of information, but it does not replace human technical judgment”, he explained.

In cases of irregularities or expired deadlines, the system may be integrated with the Registro de Inadimplentes Financeiros (Refin) to support sanctioning proceedings. The Director-General said those responsible will have 60 days to adapt to the new system.

The SAI will also feature an Application Programming Interface (API) manager for the technical integration of information between the platform and the systems used by the regulated entities themselves.

According to Antaq, at this stage there are no details regarding broader automatic cross-checks with other government databases or corporate systems.

The agency’s Director-General emphasized that the tool replaces a model considered analog and fragmented “with integrated digital governance, providing greater operational efficiency for teams, legal certainty for proceedings and technical rigor in the oversight of port investments”, he concluded.