Brasília – The Secretariat for Ports of the Brazilian federal government has announced this Monday (9th) that concessions will be granted for five new Private Usage Terminals, located in Niterói (state of Rio de Janeiro), Porto Belo (Santa Catarina), Guarujá (São Paulo), São João da Barra (Rio de Janeiro) and Santos (São Paulo). The terminals’ concessions will be the first ones after the entry into force of the new regulatory framework for ports, which took place in June 2013, and the terminals will handle general cargo, passengers and solid bulk.
The secretariat has also informed that authorizations for private terminals are at the final stage of being analysed by the National Water Transport Agency (Antaq), located in Espírito Santo (Aracruz), Pará (Barbacena, Itaituba and Juriti), Amazonas (three terminals in Manaus), Bahia (two terminals in Ilhéus) and Rondônia (Porto Velho). The 15 ventures are expected to see a combined R$ 6.4 billion (US$ 2.7 billion) in investment.
According to the secretariat, from now on, terminals’ concessions will be granted in a steady flow, depending on interest from private enterprises and on availability. The new legislation sets forth that parties interested in obtaining clearance for ports facilities outside of existing areas may submit a request to the Antaq at any time.
Considering the fact that there are 59 facilities in the process of obtaining authorization, the federal government estimates that there is potential for R$ 11.3 billion (US$ 4.8 billion) worth of investment from the private sector.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
