Competition and infrastructure to be topics at event in Rio de Janeiro

First meeting took place in Santos in March this year (Alexsander Ferraz/AT)

The aim is to broaden the debate on the future of Brazil’s port sector and bring it closer to a strategic region for the country’s logistics, with representatives from various spheres. This is the objective of the 2nd Encontro Porto & Mar, promoted by Grupo Tribuna . The event, scheduled for the 22nd, will take place at Píer Mauá, the International Cruise Terminal in Rio de Janeiro.

The CEO of the Associação Brasileira dos Terminais Portuários (ABTP), Jesualdo Silva, will be one of the panelists at 4:20 p.m., on the topic: The future of competition and infrastructure in Brazilian ports.

Silva says that the bottlenecks faced by the sector are diverse and interconnected. “There is currently no single factor that explains the competitiveness challenges faced by Brazilian terminals. We have made significant progress in expanding capacity and attracting private investment, but we still need to improve regulatory predictability, legal certainty, land and waterway access, reducing bureaucracy in the sector, and operational efficiency.”

The president of ABTP points out that Brazil has already demonstrated that there is private-sector appetite for investment, citing last year as an example. At the time, the Federal Government held eight port auctions, totaling R\$ 10.3 billion in investments. New private-use terminals (TUPs) were also authorized.

“We need to continue this agenda and, above all, ensure speed between identifying an infrastructure need, designing the project, approving it and actually bringing it into operation. We also need to make progress in reducing bureaucracy and in digital transformation. Productivity must be treated as part of infrastructure”, he says. “There is also a fundamental access agenda. We need integrated planning between port infrastructure and the other modes of transport to ensure that cargo can reach and leave ports efficiently”, he adds.

In Silva’s view, the ultimate goal should be clear: a more predictable, productive and competitive port system capable of keeping pace with the growth of Brazil’s foreign trade and reducing the country’s logistics costs.

Freight

The president of the Associação Nacional dos Usuários do Transporte de Cargas (Anut), Luis Henrique Teixeira Baldez, will give a presentation starting at 2:40 p.m. The topic will be the new Minimum Freight Floor Law (15.485/2026).

“The focus will be on aspects related to the methodology for calculating freight rate tables, the parameterization of the factors that make up transportation costs, and the regulation of inspection procedures and the modulation of penalties resulting from the Law. We will also address aspects that demonstrate the impacts that a public policy involving intervention in a competitive market can have on the prices of lower-value-added products”, he says.

Baldez points out that recent changes in transportation regulation — including stricter enforcement and minimum freight floor rules — and the consolidation of the regulatory framework for cabotage (Law No. 14.301/2022), known as BR do Mar, have direct effects on competitiveness among transportation modes in Brazil.

“We can cite the increased competitiveness of the cabotage sector compared with road transportation, the encouragement of cargo migration to cabotage, an improved transport matrix, lower average logistics costs and the creation of a scenario for reducing the Custo Brasil”, lists the president of Anut.

Program

2:00 p.m. – Opening

Marcos Clemente Santini, CEO of A Tribuna Flavio Vieira da Silva, CEO of PortosRio 2:20 p.m. – Regulatory bottlenecks and the future of competition in Brazilian ports

Alber Vasconcelos, director of Agência Nacional de Transportes Aquaviários (Antaq) 2:40 p.m. – New minimum freight floor law

Luis Henrique Teixeira Baldez, president of Associação Nacional dos Usuários do Transporte de Cargas (Anut) 3:10 p.m. – The new cabotage landscape: how domestic maritime transportation mitigates the Custo Brasil amid the new Freight Law and global instability

Otto Burlier, national secretary for Waterways and Navigation 4:20 p.m. – Panel: The future of competition and infrastructure in Brazilian ports

Alex Ávila, national secretary of Ports Ricardo Arten, CEO of Porto Itapoá (SC) Flávia Takafashi, leader of the Mulheres a Bordo project Rafael Pina, superintendent of Planning and Business Development at PortosRio Jesualdo Silva, CEO of Associação Brasileira dos Terminais Portuários (ABTP) Monica Barros, executive partner at Instituto de Logística e Supply Chain (Ilos) Alber Vasconcelos, director of Antaq Registration at the link .