Posted on July 9, 2025
Santos port in São Paulo state is expected to see the advance of contracts worth 18.5bn reais (US$3.3bn) this year, but officials have also raised concerns.
“There are three major contracts associated with the port of Santos that are in the pipeline to move forward. Among these three, there is one that is an absolute priority, which is the lease contract for the container terminal,” Paulo Dantas, an infrastructure and project finance specialist at law firm Castro Barros Advogados, told BNamericas.
“This will be the largest terminal at the port and will bring extremely significant investments for the expansion of the port structure, given the fact that we’re expected to reach full operational capacity at the port by 2028. This is a contract that has to be offered urgently.”
The government is planning to offer the 5.6bn-real leasing contract for the STS10 container terminal in the second half of the year, as long as it can solve the related legal problems.
Officials want to prohibit companies with a presence at the port from participating in the auction, but the world’s largest shipping group, Denmark’s Maersk, which already operates at Santos, filed a petition with waterways regulator Antaq, challenging the bidding rules.
Other companies that are affected by the rules include BTP, controlled by MSC and Maersk, Santos Brasil, controlled by CMA CGM, and DP World.
The 25-year lease contract for the terminal covers the construction of docking berths with a total length of 1,209m, as well as the corresponding equipment and subsystems to handle at least three new Panamax-class ships with a draft of 17m.
Santos is Brazil’s largest port in terms of cargo value handled, accounting for 25% of Brazil’s foreign trade. Last year, it handled 139Mt.
Access channel
Meanwhile, the ports and airports ministry announced the start of the bidding process to contract works to expanding and dredge the port access channel. With planned investments and spending of 6.45bn reais, the auction is expected to take place later this year.
“This project will increase the efficiency and capacity of port operations, allowing even larger ships to access Santos port and enabling more sustainable operations,” ports and airports minister Silvio Costa Filho said in a statement.
The auction is modeled on the one for the access channel at Paranaguá port in Paraná state, which has been approved by the federal audit court.
However, even some government officials disagree with the model, which has never been used before in the country.
Under the Paranaguá contract, the winner will manage the asset for 25 years, with the possibility of an extension for up to 70 years. Mandatory works include deepening the draft from 13m to 15.5m.
But government officials consulted by BNamericas believe that fully replicating the concession model may not be feasible because Paranaguá port has 14 berths and Santos 65.
“The increase in the draft of the port is also a project aimed at improving the port’s logistics, but in my view, I believe it would be more important for the government to prioritize the container terminal contract, which is a more urgent project than increasing the draft. In other words, if the focus is to resolve bottlenecks, it would be better for the government to concentrate on Tecon 10,” said Dantas.
September auction
In addition, the 6bn-real construction PPP contract for the underwater tunnel between Santos and Guarujá will be auctioned on September 5.
The tunnel is expected to help ease access to the port area.
About 870m of the 1.5km tunnel will be submerged. It will feature six lanes, a light rail link and access for pedestrians and cyclists.
Major local infrastructure firms such as Novonor and Queiroz Galvão, as well as international players like Portugal’s Mota-Engil, Italy’s Webuild, China’s CCCC and Spain’s Acciona, are evaluating the project, an official familiar with the matter told BNamericas.
“The challenge with this underwater tunnel contract lies in attracting interested and specialized companies. We don’t have Brazilian engineering companies with the technical capacity to build such a project, which is why, this will necessarily have to be a contract involving the participation of international construction and engineering companies,” said Dantas…
