Posted on May 4, 2026
Brazil’s Ministry of Ports and Airports has asked the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) to suspend the bidding process for Tecon Santos 10, the new container terminal planned for the Port of Santos.
According to the ministry, the move is a standard administrative step aimed at reviewing and refining the project model amid a series of technical, legal and competition-related adjustments under discussion with the presidential chief of staff’s office.
The decision reopens a strategic phase of the process, which will now undergo a reassessment of assumptions and parameters to ensure what the ministry described as the “best public interest.”
“It is important to note that the Tecon Santos 10 auction follows the ordinary procedure applicable to port leases, involving technical and legal stages conducted by the National Ports Secretariat of the Ministry of Ports and Airports, the National Waterway Transportation Agency and the Federal Court of Accounts,” the ministry said in a statement.
Tecon Santos is the most anticipated project in Brazil’s port sector. The $1.3bn terminal would increase the port’s container handling capacity by about 50% and will have an initial 25-year contract, renewable for up to 70 years. Tecon Santos 10 will occupy 621,900 sq m area on the Saboó quay in Santos. It is expected to have static capacity of 3.5 m teu, more than half of the total handled last year at the Santos waterfront
The review comes after repeated delays to the timetable and amid disagreement over the auction model, particularly the rules governing participation by large operators already established in the Santos port complex.
In February 2026, the ministry said the official plan was to carry out the auction in 2026, but that the date would still be set after discussions and review by Antaq.
One of the main sticking points concerns the design of the auction itself. Antaq sent the Federal Court of Accounts a recommendation for a two-phase auction, under which companies already operating container terminals at the Port of Santos would be barred from the first phase. The stated justification was to reduce the risk of market concentration.
The Federal Court of Accounts decided to recommend a two-phase auction, with the first phase also closed to shipping lines. In a statement, Antaq said it received the court’s decision “calmly” and that the ruling reflects the agency’s interest in preserving competition.
