Audit court brings Port of Santos privatization back to debate

Although the Minister of Ports and Airports, Márcio França, has already ruled out the privatization of the Port of Santos, the Federal Audit Court (TCU) will resume the debate over the case on Wednesday, March 8.

Last year, the plenary of the Court began to analyze the project put forth by the Bolsonaro administration with the vote of Minister Bruno Dantas, the current president of the court.

In December, however, three ministers – Walton Rodrigues, Benjamin Zymler, and Vital do Rêgo – initiated a review process that interrupted the trial. This Wednesday, the topic should be back on the court’s agenda.

In the vote cast last year, Dantas suggested the Lula government analyze other port authority sales before proceeding with the privatization of the Port of Santos, the largest port complex in Latin America.

Please see below a chart containing data on exports and imports of containers from the Port of Santos between Jan 2019 and Jan 2023. The data is from DataLiner.

Container exports and imports – Port of Santos | Jan 2019 – Jan 2023 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The Bolsonaro government held the first port authority auction in early 2022 when it sold Codesa, the docks company that managed the ports of Vitória and Barra do Riacho in Espírito Santo.

The Lula government does not intend to undo Codesa’s privatization, which is already under a new administration, but it claims that there will be no similar privatizations in other ports.

The Ministry of Ports and Airports is studying other ways to attract private investment in public port authorities without selling these state-owned companies.

For example, the concession of the access channel and dredging services is one of the possibilities considered. However, the person responsible for these policies within the governmental body was only officially named last Friday, March 3.

Chosen to head the Ministry’s National Secretariat for Ports, Fabrizio Pierdomenico has already worked at the Port of Santos as a director in Lula’s first terms, in addition to being Secretary of Planning and Port Development and a member of the board of the Santos port authority.

Source: Money Times

To read the original news report, see: https://www.moneytimes.com.br/tcu-deve-retomar-na-quarta-feira-analise-sobre-privatizacao-do-porto-de-santos-5/

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