Court keeps Santos logistics condominium tender suspended

A federal court has rejected an appeal filed by the Santos Port Authority (APS) and upheld the suspension of a tender for the construction of a logistics condominium in the city of Santos. The bidding process has been on hold since December, after an injunction was granted in favor of the Brazilian Association of Container Terminals (Abratec), which challenged the terms of the tender. A final ruling in the case has yet to be issued.

The 242,000-square-meter site is located on Augusto Barata Avenue, between the Alemoa and Saboó districts, directly across from Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP) and the future Tecon Santos 10. The project calls for a logistics complex with a truck staging yard, along with service facilities and rest areas for drivers.

In its appeal, APS argued that Abratec had “misled the court by claiming that only one bidder had participated in the process” and that the injunction decision was unclear. The arguments were dismissed by Judge Diogo Henrique Belozo of the 1st Federal Court of Santos in a ruling issued last week.

Abratec director Caio Morel said the best solution would be to launch a new tender for the site, allocating it to container handling activities “with broad participation and no restrictions, enhancing the asset’s value for the public sector.”

He argued that the APS tender lacked transparency, noting that there were no public hearings and that the process allowed just 15 days for submissions, leaving insufficient time for potential bidders to assess the investment. “It came as a surprise to the sector,” he said.

Abratec contends that the tender violates Brazil’s Economic Freedom Law (Law 13,874/2019). The notice, published on October 21 with a deadline of November 12, 2025 for document submission, received only one proposal, described as “negligible”: BRL 1.20 per square meter per month for what the association calls a strategic area within the Port of Santos.

On the same day, APS launched two tenders for logistics condominium projects in Santos and Guarujá. Proposals were opened on December 17, also with a single bidder in each case. The Portlog Consortium won in Santos, while the Marlog–Petrasalis Logística Consortium secured the Guarujá project.

Together, the projects envision 877 truck parking spaces, with operations expected to begin in 2029. The combined investment totals BRL 477.9 million, with 20-year concession terms.

Port Authority Response

In a statement, APS said it had submitted to the court a recent position from the Ministry of Ports and Airports reaffirming previous information regarding the market offering, and expressed confidence that the federal court in Santos will take the submission into account in its forthcoming decision.

The authority argued that designating the area for port operations would be inconsistent with the Port of Santos Development and Zoning Plan (PDZ). The site, historically known as the “Railway Land” (formerly owned by RFFSA), is classified in Chapter 2.4 of the 2020 PDZ as an area not allocated to port operations.

APS also defended maintaining current rules, including competitive safeguards, to prevent vertical monopolies and ensure that critical port access infrastructure is not controlled by a single economic group to the detriment of other users. According to the authority, the project aims to address the immediate public interest of organizing truck traffic on the Right Bank of the port.

Industry Pressure

Beyond the lawsuit, Abratec — alongside five other industry groups (ABTL, ABTP, Abtra, ATP and Fenop) — sent a joint letter to the Ministry of Ports and Airports and to the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) calling for the immediate cancellation of the Right Bank logistics condominium tender.

Regarding the Left Bank project in Guarujá, APS said the result was ratified on January 21, as scheduled. “The Marlog–Petrasalis Logística Consortium now has three months to submit the required documentation and sign the contract,” the port authority said.

Source: A Tribuna

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