Brazil’s federal government plans to hold the auction of the Santos port’s massive Tecon 10 container terminal in the first half of March, Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho said on Friday.
The auction has drawn interest from more than 10 potential bidders, he said, citing Philippines-based ICTSI and Brazilian meatpacking firm JBS and Brazilian logistics firm JSL, as well as unnamed Arab investors.
The minister said the winning bidder is expected to invest BRL6.4 billion ($1.19 billion) to build and operate the terminal during the contract, and that the starting bids would be somewhere below that amount.
Roberto Lopes, the CEO of Rio Brasil Terminal, which is controlled by ICTSI, confirmed the group will participate in the auction and will bid without any partners.
JBS, which is now listed in New York and has a contract to operate containers in southern Brazil, declined to comment. JSL did not reply to a request for comment.
Earlier this week, Brazil’s Federal Audit Court voted to recommend that operators of existing container terminals at the Santos port be barred from participating in the first phase of bidding, citing concerns over market concentration.
The decision dealt a blow to companies such as Danish shipping group Maersk, MSC and others already operating container terminals in Latin America’s largest port.
According to the recommendation, those companies would only be able to enter a second phase of the auction if the first does not attract valid bids.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro and Roberto Samora in São Paulo; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Gabriel Araujo, Joe Bavier and Paul Simao)
