Posted on July 23, 2026
The Santos Port Authority (APS) has authorized work to begin on a R$617.9 million project to deepen the Port of Santos navigation channel from 15 to 16 meters.
The order to proceed was issued after Brazil’s Federal Regional Court for the 3rd Region (TRF3) lifted an injunction that had blocked the contract.
Jan De Nul do Brasil Dragagem Ltda. will carry out the project under an agreement signed on June 12. With the authorization now in place, the company will begin the required surveys, planning and environmental permitting. The work is expected to be completed within 21 months.
The contracting process had been suspended on June 16 following a legal challenge by DTA Engenharia, another bidder for the project.
DTA argued that Jan De Nul’s bid may not have been economically viable, citing what it considered excessive discounts on certain line items and possible distortions in how prices were distributed across the proposal.
In Brazilian public procurement, a bid may be rejected as unviable when the proposed price is considered too low for the contractor to realistically complete the work. DTA claimed that APS had accepted Jan De Nul’s offer without providing a sufficiently detailed technical assessment.
The company sought Jan De Nul’s disqualification. A federal court in Santos partially granted the request, ordering the tender process to be suspended until a final ruling was issued.
Jan De Nul and APS appealed to TRF3, which overturned the injunction on Wednesday, July 15, allowing the contract and project to move forward.
Federal appellate judge Wilson Zauhy noted that the agreement with the winning bidder had already been signed before the initial court decision and that suspending it could have significant consequences for the public interest.
The judge also found that there was no preliminary evidence of illegality sufficient to keep the injunction in place. APS issued the order to proceed on Friday, July 17.
Five-year dredging contract
APS signed the R$617.9 million contract with Jan De Nul on June 12. The five-year agreement also includes two years of maintenance dredging.
The order to proceed had originally been scheduled for June 17 but was delayed by the injunction.
APS considers the project strategically important because the deeper channel will allow larger vessels to call at Santos with heavier loads and less dependence on tidal conditions.
