Legal framework must modernize ports

Agility for the concessions and authorizations of public and private ports and for the hiring of personnel is what is sought in the law revision (Alexsander Ferraz/AT)

The private sector seeks more flexible legislation for the concessions and authorizations of public and private ports and for personnel hiring, in addition to legal security and reduction of the tax burden. To this end, the focus is on the reform of the so-called Ports Law (12.815/2013), which is the central theme of the 2nd Porto & Mar Meeting 2024 that Grupo Tribuna will host on the 29th of October in Brasília.

The traditional event, noted for its technical agenda and discussion of relevant topics in the sector, will feature as one of its speakers the minister of the Superior Labor Court (TST), Douglas Alencar. He chairs the Commission of Jurists for Legal Review and Exploration of Ports and Port Facilities (Ceportos), created by the Parliament to address the update of the port legal framework.

In an interview with A Tribuna , Alencar states that legislation must keep pace with the evolution of ports. “The experience accumulated over the last ten years has allowed us to identify various regulatory, environmental, competitive, and labor bottlenecks that will be addressed in the proposal. It is expected that they will be urgently overcome to ensure greater efficiency and competitiveness in the port sector, benefiting the economy and society.” The final proposal is to be voted on by the committee before the meeting, on the 23rd, and sent to the Chamber.

What is sought The minister explains that the reformulation of the law is structured around three axes, based on the premise of “combating excessive bureaucracy and lack of legal security” through “rapid and simplified processes for concessions and leases in public ports and authorizations for private ports. All this without risks or detriments to the public interest. ”

Alencar points out that one of the paths is the decentralization of port management, granting more autonomy to the National Agency for Waterway Transportation (Antaq) and port authorities, provided that control remains with the granting authority and the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).

“There is also discussion about more freedom for investments in granted and leased terminals, without contractual revisions, ensuring greater competition with private ports.”

Another issue relates to sustainability, encouraging the development and use of sustainable energy and the adaptation of ports to climate change. “There is an ongoing modernization process of ships, which are increasingly larger and powered by sustainable energy, and Brazilian ports need to be prepared to accommodate them. ”

Concession of access channels The minister adds that another proposal under consideration deals with the “possibility of granting access channels and maneuvering basins, as is already intended concerning the Ports of Paranaguá and Antonina (PR).”

Alencar emphasizes that the hiring of port labor is one of the sensitive points of the project, as there are proposals advocating for maintaining exclusivity —the current system— as well as changing the rule to one of priority.

Currently, casual port workers (TPAs) are hired through the Port Labor Management Agency (Ogmo). “The economic freedom enshrined in the Constitution, as has been proclaimed by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), does not appear compatible with rigid and inflexible business operation models. The very Law 12.815/2013, in this chapter of exclusivity, is being questioned in the STF, in a direct action of unconstitutionality (Adin)”, he notes.

In Alencar's view, “the modernization of the sector involves expanding the possibilities of recruiting labor, whether casual or linked, by port operators. This is not about precariousness but about expanding and rationalizing access to port work.”

He also cites Convention 137 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which “indicates that employment linkage, formal hiring, is the natural path in the transition process of port labor.” According to him, in the face of technological evolution, with accelerated automation and artificial intelligence, “it is urgent” to adopt “an efficient system for training and qualifying current and future TPAs for port operations.”

Regulation will also be discussed at the event Another speaker at the 2nd Porto & Mar Meeting 2024 will be the director of Antaq, Wilson Lima Filho, who will lead the panel “The Instruments for Exploring Port Activity.”

“I will talk about the activities of Antaq and the challenges in the sector, focusing on regulatory activities, energy transition, climate change, and the concession of waterways, as well as the importance of the Port-City relationship among other topics. As always, the essentiality of the ship-port binomial will be on the agenda,” he says.

He highlights his satisfaction in participating in the event. “I am very grateful to Grupo Tribuna for this invitation. The other panelists alongside me are professionals with notable expertise in the port sector. ”

Unlocking agendas The consultant for port affairs at Grupo Tribuna, Maxwell Rodrigues, who organizes and will mediate the event, comments that the idea is to bring important topics that currently block port agendas to the discussion.

“Participants will be able to share their opinions and suggest how we can move forward. Shedding light on these issues demonstrates Grupo Tribuna’s commitment to the Port of Santos and, consequently, to the ports of Brazil.”

He emphasizes that concessions, legal stability, and employment are and always will be on the agenda of cities and ports. “Much more than the relationship between the port and the city, it is important to be concerned with the relationship between the port and the cargo. The port business is the pillar that sustains the relationship between the port and the city.”

Schedule

Date - October 29 Location - B Hotel Brasília 2:00 PM - Registration 2:20 PM - Opening – Marcos Clemente Santini, CEO of A Tribuna 2:30 PM - Panel 1 – The Instruments for Exploring Port Activity. Speaker: Wilson Lima Filho, Director of the National Agency for Waterway Transportation (Antaq) 3:00 PM - Debaters: Alex Ávila, National Secretary of Ports; Mário Povia, CEO of the Brazilian Infrastructure Institute (IBI); Gilmara Temóteo, Executive Director of the Brazilian Association of Port and Waterway Entities (Abeph); Cristina Wadner, lawyer specializing in Maritime, Port, and Customs Law; Thiago Miller, lawyer specializing in Maritime, Port, and Customs Law. 3:30 PM - Panel 2 - Ceportos - The preliminary draft law for reviewing the legal framework that regulates the direct and indirect exploration of Brazilian ports and port facilities. Speaker - Douglas Alencar, Minister of the Superior Labor Court (TST) and President of the Commission of Jurists for Legal Review and Exploration of Ports and Port Facilities (Ceportos). 4:00 PM - Debaters: Celso Peel, Judge of the Regional Labor Court of São Paulo and Reporting Member of Ceportos; Jacqueline Wedpap, Executive Director of the Pilotage Institute of Brazil and member of Ceportos; Carlos Müller, Manager of Institutional and Government Relations of the Brazilian Vegetable Oils Industry Association (Abiove); Aristides Russi Júnior, Executive Director of JBS Terminals; Carlos Mariotti, Executive Manager of Industrial Policy of the Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá); Marcelo Sammarco, lawyer specializing in Maritime, Port, and Regulatory Law; Eduardo Heron, Technical Director of the Council of Coffee Exporters of Brazil (Cecafé). 6:00 PM - Closing