Posted on December 3, 2025
Another chapter in this progress is in the area of containers. Approximately 11 percent of the 14 million containers handled in Brazil pass through TCP, the container terminal in Paranaguá, Paraná. Since 2018, TCP has been part of the portfolio of CM Ports, a Chinese state-owned company that is one of the largest container operators in the world.
CM Ports is already among the leading terminal operators in the country and, in early November, signed an agreement with the Brazilian government to invest a significant amount in expanding the terminal in Paranaguá.
This multi-billion dollar investment package expands container handling capacity and strengthens the company’s position in Brazilian foreign trade logistics.
CM Ports’ interest is not limited to containers. At the Port of Açu, in Rio de Janeiro, which currently has 11 terminals and accounts for about 30 percent of Brazilian oil exports, the Chinese state-owned company signed an agreement in February 2025 to buy 70 percent of the oil terminal, while the other 30 percent remains with the current controlling group.
The deal is still subject to approval from regulatory bodies, but if completed, The company will now be responsible for a significant portion of the logistics of Brazilian oil exports., reinforcing the strategic nature of these investments.
Passenger trains and projects by CRRC
Os billion-dollar investments Technology from China is also reaching passenger transport. The São Paulo state government auctioned off the concession for the intercity train in 2024, a project that envisions a modern rail link between São Paulo and Campinas.
The winning consortium was divided between the Comporte Group, owned by the Constantino family, with 60 percent, and the Chinese state-owned company CRRC, with 40 percent.
The intercity train project is expected to require approximately 14 billion reais in investments throughout its duration, with a portion of that amount coming directly from Chinese participation.
CRRC will be responsible for part of the system’s implementation and for manufacturing the trains that will operate on the line., consolidating its presence in the Brazilian passenger rail transport market.
Furthermore, in 2025 CRRC won a bid to supply 44 trains to the São Paulo metro, in a contract worth 3,1 billion reais, with assembly planned for Araraquara, in the interior of the state.
These contracts reveal how The experience gained in port, railway, and metro projects in China is exported to countries with infrastructure deficits., like Brazil.
Energy, oil and an interconnected system
The Chinese presence is also strong in the electricity sector. State Grid, a Chinese state-owned company, controls CPFL, which is responsible for a significant portion of energy distribution in Brazil. CTG, short for China Three Gorges, is responsible for a portion of the country’s electricity generation.
These companies, in turn, buy equipment such as solar panels from the Chinese industry itself, which accounts for a large part of global production.
In practice, the multi-billion dollar investments in energy create a circuit in which Chinese companies finance, build, and operate assets, fueled by technology and components also produced in China.
In the oil sector, part of the volume that arrives at the Port of Açu, targeted by CM Ports, comes from operations of Chinese oil companies such as CNPC and Sinopec in Brazilian waters.
This arrangement reinforces the logic of an interconnected system, in which different state-owned companies complement each other at various stages of the chain, from the field to export.
A new design for Brazilian infrastructure
According to infrastructure experts consulted during the discussion, China’s economic growth has been heavily anchored in large port, railway, and subway projects, which has created an ecosystem of companies with high technical capacity and access to financing.
Expanding into countries with infrastructure deficits, such as Brazil, is seen as a natural development of this strategy.
In Brazil, the result is a set of billion-dollar investments in grain and container ports, oil terminals, passenger rail lines, power distribution and generation networks.
In many cases, this is a model in which one Chinese company feeds another, multiplying the revenue of the same controlling entity, which is the Chinese state.
The difference is that now this arrangement is taking place on Brazilian territory, with a direct impact on commodity exports, internal logistics, and the energy matrix. The way the country regulates, monitors, and negotiates these investments will influence the balance between infrastructure gains and external dependence.
