Auction of megaterminal in Santos no longer has a scheduled date

The megaterminal is considered the largest port lease in Brazil, with investments of R\$ 6.45 billion over 25 years; the occupied area is located at the Saboó quay, in Santos (Alexsander Ferraz/AT)

The auction of the Terminal de Contêineres (Tecon) Santos 10, at the Port of Santos, previously scheduled to take place in April, according to the Minister of Portos e Aeroportos, Silvio Costa Filho, and later considered for May, no longer has a set date. The Ministério de Portos e Aeroportos (MPor) told A Tribuna that the bidding process “will take place in 2026, on a date to be defined by agreement, following analysis by Antaq (Agência Nacional de Transportes Aquaviários).”

According to MPor, “the Secretaria Nacional de Portos (SNP) and Antaq are jointly proceeding with the implementation of the recommendations approved by the Plenary of the Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU).” In addition, it stated that the notice is being prepared “in accordance with the regular procedures for port leases.”

During an event last week, Costa Filho stated that the expectation was that “within the first ten days of March, the notice would be published so that in May we could hold the major auction. We are still structuring the notice in order to, alongside Antaq, present it to the president (Luiz Inácio) Lula (da Silva, PT) after Carnival and, from that point, make a joint decision to effectively carry out the (auction) of Tecon Santos 10.”

Deadlock

A deadlock regarding the megaterminal has created uncertainty about the auction schedule. The decision to prevent shipping lines — companies that own vessels — from participating in the auction, as recommended by TCU and already indicated as accepted by MPor, has generated dissatisfaction at the Chinese shipping company Cosco, which had expressed interest in the project. The company, linked to the government of China — Brazil’s largest trading partner — maintains a close relationship with the administration of President Lula.

Earlier this month, Costa Filho met with TCU ministers Bruno Dantas and Antônio Anastasia, who presented different positions regarding the format of the Tecon Santos 10 bidding process during the Court’s review of the case. In addition to barring shipping lines, TCU also determined that companies already operating container terminals in Santos may not participate in the bidding.

With Tecon Santos 10, the annual handling capacity of the Port of Santos will reach 9 million containers. Under the project, four berths for vessel docking, loading, and unloading will be built. Under the defined criteria, the winner of the auction will be the bidder offering the highest concession fee, starting from a minimum bid of R\$ 500 million.

According to MPor, the Tecon Santos 10 auction “remains the most important project in the Federal Government’s auction portfolio and has been treated with due priority.”

The project

The megaterminal is considered the largest port lease in Brazil, with investments of R\$ 6.45 billion over 25 years. Planned to be located at the Saboó quay (STS10), on the Right Bank of the Port of Santos, it will occupy an area of 621,900 square meters.

With the new terminal entering into operation, the country is projected to move from its current 45th position to 15th place in the global container handling ranking. The project will consolidate Santos as the largest hub in the Southern Hemisphere, vital for the outflow of national production.

Concais

Tecon Santos 10 is a key component in enabling the relocation of the Terminal Marítimo de Passageiros Giusfredo Santini, operated by Concais, to the Valongo region.

The winning company will be responsible for implementing the off-shore structures (in the water), which will be installed alongside the leased area, in front of Parque Valongo. The relocation of the cruise terminal from Outeirinhos to the central area aims to boost the revitalization of the neighborhood.

At Cade

The request by the Chinese state-owned company Cosco to the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (Cade), linked to the Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública, opposing the prohibition on the participation of shipping lines (vessel owners) in the Tecon Santos 10 auction, was rejected by the panel.

In a decision published on February 3, Chief Auditor Bruna Casarotto Lima Sucha noted that the matter concerns substantive analyses of specific points of the Tecon Santos 10 bidding notice, “whose jurisdiction over the bidding process lies with Antaq and is being duly overseen by TCU and by this authority within the scope of its responsibilities. Therefore, the matter is being monitored and, for this reason, there is currently no need for intervention.” Thus, Cade closed the case without analyzing the merits of the allegations.