Brazilian Ministry of Infrastructure approves doubling of the area of the Santos port area

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Ministry of Infrastructure (Minfra) published Ordinance No. 66, modifying the jurisdictional limits of the Organized Port of Santos, the busiest container port in Latin America.

The definition of the new polygonal, so-called administrative perimeter that includes accesses, equipment, leased terminals, and expansion areas of the public port, updates the route in force since 2020, increasing the dry area under the administration of the Santos Port Authority (SPA) from 8 km² to 15.5 km².

The expansion incorporates greenfield areas to develop new projects and adds value to the privatization of SPA, scheduled for the second half of the year.

The expansion of the port entity is projected on the Santos mainland, towards the bottom of the navigation channel, composed mainly of Ilha de Bagres and Largo do Caneu, which together account for approximately 6 km² of the new 8 km².

In this context, Fernando Biral, president of SPA, pointed out that “for the future private concessionaire of SPA it is very interesting. If the privatization were to be carried out only with existing contracts, the valuation of the asset would be penalized by a lower growth perspective. We now put a new growth factor into this equation, very significant for the next 40 years.”

For his part, SPA’s Director of Business Development and Regulation, Bruno Stupello, addressed the situation of the public port before the expansion, which would have almost 95% of the operational areas occupied, which means a low level of idleness. Because of this, Stupello indicated that “the new polygon allows the Port Authority to plan the incorporation of capacities according to the needs, without oversupply or predatory competition”, he emphasized.

In line with the above, Biral also states that the new polygon opens up a range of investment opportunities in projects such as port-industry and new terminals, translating into potential economic growth for the region. The definition of the occupation of the areas will be made through the Urban Planning and Zoning Plan (PDZ).

Finally, in addition to the dry area, the polygonal area of the Port of Santos includes maritime anchorage areas, the navigation channel and its evolution docks (in the estuary), and the Itatinga Hydroelectric Plant. It is distributed in the municipalities of Santos, Guarujá, Cubatão, Bertioga, and Biritiba-Mirim.