Six Port Terminals Auctioned in Pará, Brazil For US$115.9 Million

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Six port terminals in the Northern Brazilian state of Pará were auctioned off on Friday for US$115.9 million, including terminals in the busy port of Belém. According to government officials another US$108.7 million will be invested in these terminals.

“(The auction) exceeded expectations,” said Brazil’s Infrastructure Minister, Tarcisio Gomes de Freitas after the auction.

“Our focus is logistics, is to bring investments, reduce the ‘Cost Brazil’,” said the minister. “Added to the other R$219 million of the last auction that is are almost R$700 million received with port terminals,” stated Minister Freitas.

Among the buyers are state-controlled oil giant, Petrobras, Ipiranga and Raizen (joint venture between Shell and Cosan). The terminals auctioned off on Friday move mainly fuel, to other Brazilian ports and abroad.

According to Freitas, the leasing of terminals will have a strong impact on liquid logistics that supply the North, Midwest and Northeast regions. The contracts range from fifteen to twenty-five years, and can be renewed up to 70 years.

This is the second auction of port terminals in less than a month. At the end of March, the government raised a little over US$56.57 million with the auction of four port terminals in the states of Paraíba and Espírito Santo.

Analysts expect that an auction announcement of three more port terminals will be done sometime this month. These three terminals alone, two in the Port of Santos and one in the Port of Paranagua will render the government approximately US$103.5 million.

President Bolsonaro, celebrated the result of the auction on social media on Friday. “Goal fulfilled and consolidated investments that will bring more development to the states and economy,” he said on his Twitter account.

So far, twenty-three concessions, including ports, airports and railways have been carried out this year, making good on the federal government’s promise to privatize a good part of Brazil’s public infrastructure.