Port of Santos’ Internal Railway fails to secure new investors in latest public call

The public call opened for new accessions to the shareholder base of the concessionaire of the Internal Railway of the Port of Santos (Fips) did not attract any interested parties. The public notice, prepared jointly by the Santos Port Authority (APS) and the Management Association of the Internal Railway of the Port of Santos (AG-Fips), was published in the Federal Official Gazette on September 30 and closed on October 28.

The call complies with the assignment agreement signed in 2022 between APS and AG-Fips and seeks to expand the number of members collaborating with the administration and to invest in the port railway network.

According to APS, “the mechanism must be carried out every two years and has the function of identifying potential companies qualified to join the entity as an investing member or non-investing member, in accordance with the rules of clause nine of the assignment agreement”.

Forms of participation

According to the port authority, the investing member participates in the allocation of costs, expenses, and carries out investments. The non-investing member only shares costs and expenses, without contributing, and participates in the association in proportion to its cargo handling.

The notice stipulated that only railway operators authorized by the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) — with current movement or proven expectations for the next two years — or economic groups controlling two or more of these operators would be able to participate.

The concessionaire AG-Fips is a consortium comprising Rumo Logística, VLI Multimodal, and MRS Logística. In a statement, AG-Fips informed that “there is no change in the membership structure”.

The concessionaire also highlighted that “the forecast of periodic public calls, established in the contract, aims to ensure the permeability of the system and reinforce the institutional commitment to the principles of transparency, publicity and isonomy”.

Finally, APS stressed that “the call ensures that, throughout the 35 years of the contractual term, the railway management consortium remains open to the entry of new partners capable of bringing investments, technologies, expertise and financial reinforcement”.

Source: A Tribuna

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