Minister Silvio Costa Filho: Santos Port to remain public, but open to PPPs

The Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho, stated on Monday (August 18) that the port of Santos will remain public but emphasized that there is potential for partnerships with the private sector.

“We will not privatize the port of Santos, and we will also expand the dialogue with the entire productive sector of São Paulo,” said the minister in an interview with CNN Brasil.

“The Port of Santos being public does not repeal the possibility of public-private partnerships (PPPs) that can be developed internally. This is the direction we want to work towards. The port doesn’t need to be privatized for us to have privatizations,” he added, ensuring that political leaders, including São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, a member of the same part as the minister, will be involved in all negotiations involving the ministry’s investments in the state.

Last week, Costa Filho stated that the port has nearly BRL 3 billion in cash and will lead the largest project of the New Growth Acceleration Program (Novo PAC), the construction of the Santos-Guarujá tunnel.

Launched by the federal government in August with projected investments of BRL 1.7 trillion, the New PAC will have private investment as its flagship.

The chart that follows gives further details on exports and imports in containers at the Port of Santos between January 2019 and July 2023. The data used below was gathered by Datamar using the DataLiner maritime intelligence tool.

Exports & imports at Port of Santos | Jan 2019 – July 2023 | TEU

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

GOVERNANCE

Costa Filho assumed the Ministry of Ports and Airports last week amid a ministerial reshuffle promoted by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to accommodate allies and expand his support base in Congress.

Despite this, Costa Filho’s party has not officially joined the government’s base; nonetheless, the minister says that the party has not only provided favorable votes to the government with more than 80% of its caucus but will also continue to vote like this moving forward.

Source: Folha de S. Paulo

To read the original news source, visit: https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mercado/2023/09/porto-de-santos-nao-sera-privatizado-mas-pode-ter-ppps-diz-ministro.shtml

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