The deadline for the privatization of Brazil’s Port of Santos, Latin America’s largest, has passed

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Mario Povia, national secretary for ports at the Ministry of Infrastructure, said the government is “within” the deadline to privatize the Port of Santos before the end of 2022. According to him, the ministry plans to soon present a project to the TCU (Federal Audit Office) to move forward with the process.

“It is important that we are transparent and recognize that we cannot slack off on this deadline,” he told O Estado de São Paulo. Povia said that delivering a quality project is “the most important thing.” The minister said the government is “on a good path.”

According to Povia, the plan is to hand over the project with the privatization model by the end of this month. Thus, the TCU would have to approve the project within three months, as the notice will be published in October, the month of the elections. If everything goes according to plan, the auction will take place in December.

The secretary also said the department is working with an alternative plan in which the auction would take place in 2023.

“It’s not our Plan A, but it’s also an important scenario for us to at least finish the modeling and start the bidding,” he said. “There is no hidden agenda; we recognize the deadlines at the limit and that we have to grease a strategy with the TCU, and we will do that.”

If President Jair Bolsonaro does not win the election, Povia said he does not know who could oppose privatization, “whatever the ideology.”

“The project is so important and interesting, and I think that all those interested, whether Brazilians or foreigners, know the seriousness of the proposal and will not be infected by electoral programs,” he said.

PORT OF SANTOS

The Port of Santos (Porto de Santos) is located in the city of Santos, state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is the busiest container port in Latin America. In 2016, it was considered the 39th largest port globally for container handling and the 35th per ton, according to the AAPA – American Association of Port Authorities ranking, being the busiest in Latin America.

Two issues facing the port today are access and distribution within the port. Because the port operates 24 hours a day, there is a lot of congestion on the roads and railways.

There is only a three-lane road with two lanes for entry to the port and one for exiting. The port considers a few possible solutions, such as deepening the channels, applying intelligent transportation systems technologies, and better truck storage facilities.

These expansion plans have been planned to be put in place by the year 2024 due to the town’s economic growth. According to CODESP, in all of these projects, the Port of Santos will be moving three times more cargo, from the current 97.2 million tons to 230 million tons, with the general cargo accounting for 53% of this volume, solid bulk for 30% and liquid bulk for 17%.

The port’s difficulties of flow in the port areas can be categorized into four different areas: the challenges of flow in the port areas, the constraints to the rail model, the poor utilization of the capacity of the maritime terminals, and the congestion in accesses.

With information from Poder360

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