Etesco has submitted final arguments to Brazil’s Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) challenging its exclusion from the tender to deepen the Port of Santos access channel from 15 to 16 metres.
The contract awarded to Jan De Nul do Brasil remains suspended while the challenge proceeds.
The TCU suspended the project's service order in a unanimous ruling on an appeal by Etesco. The court instructed Autoridade Portuária de Santos (APS) to refrain from issuing the commencement order for the contract, or to suspend its effects if already issued, until it reaches a decision on the merits.
Etesco, which leads the Consórcio Santos Dragagem, bid BRL610 million (US$120 million) in September 2025. That offer was around BRL10 million (US$2 million) below its competitor's bid, but the consortium was disqualified.
APS signed the dredging contract with Jan De Nul's Brazilian unit on June 12 for BRL617.9 million (US$123 million) over five years.
In its latest submission, Etesco asked the court to require APS to examine the consortium's technical and economic-financial qualification documents. According to the company, APS told the court these documents had not been assessed.
Etesco said the opportunity to provide clarification, "that was insufficient to preserve the lowest-priced proposal was granted twice to the winning bidder, which was also able to submit supplementary material and change amounts during the evaluation."
The company is also questioning the withdrawal of CHEC-D, a Chinese member of the consortium with a one per cent stake. CHEC-D is controlled by Shanghai Dredging, part of the state-owned China Communications Construction Company group.
Etesco has also alleged that Jan De Nul do Brasil pressured its partners to leave the consortium.
An earlier TCU ruling found that the consortium's initial omission of cost documentation was an improper basis for exclusion. However, the ruling upheld the exclusion on separate grounds: the consortium's membership had changed, and it had not sufficiently shown that its proposal remained executable.
In his August vote, minister Benjamin Zymler said mobilisation could expose APS to compensation liabilities if the contract were later annulled. He also noted that a separate maintenance dredging contract keeping the channel at 15 metres remained in force.
The first service order, issued on July 17, had authorised environmental studies. APS has described the project as the channel's first deepening in 14 years.