Posted on May 13, 2026
The Brazilian government is seeking to standardize the concession rules for three important segments of logistics infrastructure: ports, airports and waterways.
As part of the plan, the federal government, through the Ministry of Ports and Airports (MPor), established a working group to harmonize the rules applicable to these three segments, with the aim of increasing legal certainty, enhancing regulatory predictability, and making the projects more attractive to investors.
“Our goal is not to create any kind of disruption, but, on the contrary, to generate coherence between the modes of transport. Naturally, respecting the specificities of each sector, but, in what is fundamental and structuring, we understand that it is possible to build a regulatory intelligence that brings together the experiences of each sector,” said Tomé Franca, minister of Ports and Airports, in a statement.
The working group will be responsible for assessing the possibility of harmonizing the rules applied to the different modes managed by the ministry, considering the economic and regulatory impacts of the measure.
The collegiate body must also analyze aspects related to legal certainty, based on precedents from the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).
According to the government, from an economic point of view, the standardization of rules tends to reduce investors’ perception of risk, helping to lower the projects’ weighted average cost of capital. The measure can also increase the attractiveness of concessions and facilitate the financing of new infrastructure projects.
The working group will have a 90-day deadline to present a final report with the studies carried out and proposed guidelines for public policies and regulatory improvements.
The government’s attempt to standardize the contracts is also taking place as the portfolio of concessions in these segments moves forward at different speeds.
In the airport sector, the segment is already at a very advanced stage in terms of concessions, with more than 90% of operations managed by private companies through concession contracts.
In the port area, many lease contracts have been offered, but there are still several others under plans to be auctioned in the coming quarters, with some suffering delays.
In the waterways segment, the Brazilian government has encountered more difficulties in advancing the agenda.
At the beginning of this year, the Brazilian government suspended plans to offer three waterway concession contracts in the Amazon region.
The suspension occurred after protests by Indigenous peoples against the plan, claiming that the waterway concessions would affect the way of life of Indigenous populations in the region.
After the protests, the government indefinitely suspended the plans to grant the Madeira River waterway, the Tocantins River waterway, and the Tapajós River waterway, all in the Amazon region, which had been approved in 2025 by presidential decree.
