The past two years have seen contracts signed leading to R$3.5 billion (US$630 million) of initial investment into terminals’ infrastructure and another R$1.4 billion paid as down payments to local port authority and federal government coffers in Brazil. Dozens more multi-million dollars contracts are up for grabs over the next two years taking in both port terminals and port authorities themselves. Diogo Piloni, the Minister for Ports and Waterways, under the powerful all-encompassing Ministry for Infrastructure (MINFRA), advised Port Strategy in a recent interview that the concessioning process has been progressing “very well” and the next key sell-off will be the port authority for the port of Vitoria. Companhia Docas do Espirito Santo (or Codesa) will be auctioned off in November of this year, says Piloni, with the revised and final tender documents going out in August, but with preliminary rafts of information going out in May. This concession will pave the way for the much anticipated sell-off of the Santos Port Authority (SPA), scheduled for early 2022. Piloni notes that between the start of this year and through to the end of 2022 another R$7.9 billion (US$1.40 billion) of investment is forecast for capital expenditure in Brazil’s ports. On top of this, he says another R$6.0 billion (US$1.06 billion) has been raised from private port developments outside the organised port areas (Companhias Docas).
Source: Datamar News