The concessionaire of a new container terminal built in Santos, Brazil, has started partial commercial operations, according to APM Terminals.

The Brazilian Institute of Environmental and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) has issued an operating license to Brasil Terminal Portuario (BTP) effective 19th, July 2013, marking an important milestone in the new port project and officially opening the terminal.

The company said that on August 1 they applied for phase 2 operating licenses for BTP which will allow the company to extend the quay another 708 meters and build out the rest of the container yard.

The company is also waiting for  the Port Authority to finish dredging of the turning basin and channel which is expected for the next months.

BTP has been one of Brazil's highest profile and most important port projects serving Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populated city and 7th largest city in the world. The brownfield project is a global success story that entailed taking an old, contaminated, industrial site which was a major liability for the city and turning it into a clean, safe, eco-friendly and job-generating economic engine of a port.

The new container facility features 15 meter water depth and a capacity of 2.2 million TEU.

Terminal Investment Limited (TIL) agreed to sell 50 % of the interests in the concession to build and operate the container terminal to APM Terminals in August 2010. TIL still owns the other 50 %.