The Brazilian government is working with port regulator ANTAQ and other stakeholders to advance the auction of the Tecon Santos 10 container terminal at the Port of Santos in São Paulo state, aiming to unlock about US$13 billion in investments and expand capacity at Latin America’s largest port.

Brazil’s presidential administration has called for an expedited restart of the Tecon Santos 10 container terminal leasing auction and urged the removal of bidding restrictions that limit competition among participants. Through the Chief of Staff’s office, the government also recommended raising the minimum concession payment from BRL 500 million to BRL 1.04 billion.

Widely viewed as a key project for easing congestion at Brazil’s busiest port, Tecon Santos 10 would involve the development of a 621,000-square-meter container terminal with the capacity to handle up to 9 million containers annually. The project includes four berths and would be operated under a 25-year concession awarded through a competitive bidding process.

To prevent excessive concentration in Brazil’s port logistics sector, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) recommended limiting the participation of operators already active at the Port of Santos, as well as shipping companies, and proposed a two-stage auction process. Under the TCU’s guidelines, major operators with an existing presence at Santos would be barred from participating in the first phase of the bidding. This includes Denmark-based Maersk—the world’s largest container shipping group—which jointly controls Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP) with MSC, along with Santos Brasil, owned by CMA CGM, and DP World, all of which currently operate terminals at the port. Meanwhile, a number of companies that do not currently operate at the Port of Santos have expressed interest in the concession. Potential bidders include Singapore’s PSA International, U.S.-based Hudson Ports, China’s Cosco, Brazil’s J&F Group, Japan’s Ocean Network Express (ONE), Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, the Philippines’ ICTSI, and South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM).