Brazil Moves Ahead With Privatized Container Terminal at Port of Santos

Brazil is moving ahead with the long-delayed development of a new container terminal at the Port of Santos. Early this week, the Ministry of Ports and Airports (MPor) directed the state-owned logistics company Infra SA to draw up a concession model for the STS10 terminal. The Brazilian government has been trying to implement the project since 2019, during the administration of Jair Bolsonaro. With a growing container business at the Port of Santos, the new terminal would add much-needed capacity.

However, after the current government of President Lula da Silva took office in 2023, it scrapped any plans to privatize the administrator of the Port of Santos. The new directive by MPor now wants this earlier model revised, with the government readying for its auction in 2025.

“In the model recommended by MPor, in alignment with the presidential chief of staff’s office, there will be four berths in the terminal. The original project provided for three berths. This will increase the container capacity at the country’s largest port, Santos, by 50 percent,” said MPor.

Currently, the Port of Santos handles 6 million TEU per year, and this will increase to 9 million with the new terminal. There is also a proposal for the construction of a new passenger terminal in the 601,000 square meters of space allocated to STS10.

However, the development of STS10 has not been without controversy. Part of the area where the STS10 terminal will be located, in the Saboo region, is occupied by a multipurpose terminal operated by Ecoporto. The concession contract expires by the end of the year, and if the contract is renewed, some shipping companies argue that the space designated for container operations will shrink.

The STS10 auction signals a change in the Brazilian government's stance on port privatization. Last month, CMA CGM bought a 48 percent stake in Santos Brasil, a leading terminal operator in Brazil. It controls Port of Santos’ largest container terminal, Tecon Santos.