After a decade, government eyes four container terminal auctions in 2026

Brazil’s waterway regulator Antaq said it plans to hold four auctions for container terminals in 2026 — the first time such assets will be offered to the private sector in ten years.

The main focus is the STS 10 project at the Port of Santos, in São Paulo state. The terminal is expected to become the largest container facility in the country, with planned investment of R$6.4 billion and a projected 50% increase in container-handling capacity at the port.

Despite expectations, the auction timetable for the terminal — previously promised for late January 2026 — has yet to be published. Behind the scenes, sources point to disagreements between the Ministry of Ports and Airports and the presidential Chief of Staff’s Office over the structure of the tender.

After audit court TCU reviewed the project, it was agreed that the auction would take place in two stages with restrictions, as defined by Antaq. However, Bruno Dantas, acting as the case’s reviewing justice, voted to bar shipping lines — vessel owners — from participating in the first stage, while allowing existing container terminal operators at the port to compete. That position ultimately prevailed.

At a meeting held last week between the Chief of Staff’s Office and Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho, that model came under criticism. There is now a possibility that Antaq’s original structure will be reinstated — a two-stage auction in which only operators already active at the Port of Santos would be barred from the first phase.

Speaking to CNN Brasil, Dantas said the TCU will not revisit the issue. “What the TCU did was to reinforce Antaq’s autonomy. Whether it chooses broader or narrower restrictions is up to the agency itself. The debate within the government is about public policy. There is the agency’s technical decision, the public policy decision, and the TCU’s role, which has already been fulfilled,” he said.

According to people familiar with the matter, the Ministry of Ports and Airports is still reviewing requests from within the federal government to determine the most appropriate structure for the Santos mega-terminal. No final decision has been taken, a process that is likely to delay the auction, initially slated for April this year.

Antaq also plans to auction the container terminal at the Port of Itajaí, a project under discussion since 2021. For now, the area is being operated on an interim basis by JBS Terminais. The company’s chief executive, Aristides Russi Junior, has already said JBS is interested in remaining in control of the terminal.

The following is an overview of the recovery in container throughput—covering both export and import flows—between 2022 and 2025. The data is sourced from the DataLiner platform.

Port of Itajaí | Container Throughput | 2022 vs. 2024 vs. 2025 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Two other terminals that could be put up for auction as early as this year are SSB01, at the Port of São Sebastião (São Paulo state), and MUC04, at the Port of Fortaleza. Planned investments are R$544.8 million and R$450.7 million, respectively.

The auctions come at a time when the port sector has been warning about a lack of container-handling infrastructure, particularly in Brazil’s Southeast.

Antaq Director-General Frederico Dias said container throughput is expected to reach 18 million TEUs by 2030. In 2025, container volumes totaled 15.3 million TEUs, he said.

Source: CNN

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