Brazil awards lease contracts for two more port terminals

The Brazilian government awarded lease contracts for two port terminals on Friday and expects to end this year with a total of 13 port terminals offered to the private sector.

"The port sector has the function of serving the country's entire logistical chain. These are important auctions to contribute to the sector, providing more appropriate infrastructure for the segment with fresh investments," the secretary of ports and waterway transportation at the infrastructure ministry, Diogo Piloni, said during the auction, which was broadcast here. 

During the bidding process, the government awarded the MAC13 and Tersab port terminals. 

Local logistics and supply chain company Empresa Alagoana de Terminais was the only bidder for the MAC13 terminal, offering a fee of 15,000 reais (US$2,700). The terminal is located in Maceió, Alagoas state and is focused mainly on sugar transportation. It covers an area of 71,300m2 and handles around 25Mt of cargo per year. The 25-year contract will require investments of 57.8mn reais. 

The Tersab terminal in Rio Grande do Norte state was awarded to Consórcio Intersal, which agreed to pay a fee of 100,000 reais. The 35,000m2 terminal is used for handling and storage of bulk minerals, especially sea salt, with estimated annual cargo movement of 69.3Mt. The contract of 25 years outlines investments of 164mn reais.

The government was originally planning to offer a third port terminal in the Friday auction – the MUC59 terminal in Fortaleza, Ceará state, involving projected investments of 121mn reais. However, bidding for the terminal was suspended and the government is looking to reformulate the auction notice to avoid legal problems and hold another bidding process in early 2022.

Another six terminals will be auctioned on November 19: STS08 and STS08A in Santos port, POA01 in Porto Alegre port, IMB05 and ITG03 in Itaguaí port and AE-14 in Cabedelo port. 

"The investments to be generated in the auctions of the Santos port terminals that will be offered later this month will be the largest in the last 20 years," said Piloni. 

The 168,000m2 STS08 terminal, located in the country's busiest port in São Paulo state, is used to handle, store and distribute fuels. Estimated annual cargo handed at the terminal is 69.7Mt. The contract will be for 25 years and outlines investments of 261mn reais.

Meanwhile, the STS08A terminal is also located in Santos port. it covers 297,000m2 and is used for handling, storage and distribution of bulk liquids, with annual cargo handling estimated at 140Mt. The 25-year contract will require investments of 678mn reais.