News / Investors line up bids as Santos Tecon 10 terminal gets green light

Santos. Photo: © Paulo Vilela | Dreamstime.com

Brazilian authorities are moving ahead with the bidding for the new Tecon 10 (STS10) terminal in the country’s largest container gateway of Santos.

The country’s ministry of ports and airports gave its formal approval for the project early this week, a few days ahead of today’s deadline.

This leaves Brazil’s National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) – whose position, that no terminal operator in the port is allowed to bid for STS10, survived a legal challenge from APM Terminals last year, upheld by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) – poised to publish the RFQ documents for potential bidders.

In addition to barring existing operators from bidding in the first round – they will be allowed to in a second round, if there are ‘no suitable bids’ – the TCU also established a R500m ($93.25m) minimum for bids.

“We conducted the adjustments with the utmost speed, without giving up the technical rigour that a project of this magnitude requires,” said Alex Ávila, Brazil’s national secretary of ports.

“By forwarding the final modelling to Antaq before the stipulated deadline, we signal to the market that the schedule is a priority.”

A statement from the ministry explained that the project was viewed as transformational for the country’s economy: “STS10 is not just an infrastructure work, it is a geopolitical repositioning of Brazil in foreign trade.

“With the entry into operation of the new terminal, it is projected that the country will jump from the current 45th to 15th position in the world ranking of container handling.

“The project will consolidate Santos as the largest hub in the southern hemisphere, vital for the flow of national production,” it added.

STS10 will include four new berths in the Saboo area of Santos, at a projected cost of $1.1bn, providing the port with an annual handling capacity of 3m teu and raising overall capacity by some 50%,  to 9m teu.

The TCU ruling means Santos operators MSC, APMT, CMA CGM and DP World cannot bid, leaving a growing list of potential candidates, both domestic and international, likely to be in contact with Anta when it publishes the documents, promised shortly.

“The next step is the presentation of the project to national and foreign investors. The ministry said it asked Antaq to “immediately hold a roadshow, which should have its dates released later this week, ensuring transparency and attracting the largest global players”.

Brazilian commodities and energy conglomerate CSN, and JBS, the world’s largest food shipper, have been separately linked with a bid, while on the international side, South Korean carrier HMM has publicly stated interest in Tecon 10,

It is likely to be joined by other Asian carriers, such as Cosco, while smaller global terminal operators like AD Ports, ICTSI, Yilport, and Hapag-Lloyd’s Hanseatic Global Terminals, fresh from signing its greenfield deal at the to-be-built Aracruz, all qualify to bid.