Port of Fortaleza’s Container Terminal Set for Concession in November, Bringing a $360 Million Investment

The Container Terminal of the Port of Fortaleza is expected to enter Brazil’s log of concessions and port leases in November this year, with a planned investment of R$ 360,738,000 and a term of 25 years, as reported by the National Waterway Transportation Agency (ANTAQ). The auction date is subject to change by the Ministry of Ports and Airports.

Currently, the space is operated by CMA Terminals, a subsidiary of CMA CGM. In a recent interview, Lucio Gomes, president of the Ceará Port Company (CDC), said the company invested “transitorily” R$ 80 million in the Container Terminal of the Port of Fortaleza. “Our expectation is to follow the standard procedure, which involves a consultation, and public hearing, so that we can sign a new contract this year and, thus, move on to a new level of container throughput.”

Gomes further explained that the winning contestant must provide substantial funds to the port. “The major ports of the world have state-of-the-art equipment, which is what we intend to have here. The temporary operator has installed here two large cranes that are top-notch. The Port of Fortaleza, after the final lease, will offer the most modern equipment in the world, and we expect this new operator to expand the area and install state-of-the-art equipment.”

The Container Terminal of the Port of Fortaleza is one of the 16 port facilities qualified for leasing by the Federal Government at the end of January this year. According to the publication in the Official Gazette of the Union, the port asset has a total area of 134,795 m².

Investment and Concession

Public organization’s search for these partnership models is not something recent in the maritime world, as is the case with the Passenger Terminal of the Port of Fortaleza, auctioned in August of last year.

“Ports have high maintenance costs. The federal government has sought to enable a private concession and, in return, the winning bidder must invest and expand the facility to hold economically viable operations,” contextualizes Augusto Fernandes, CEO of JM Customs Brokerage.

Fernandes evaluates that this movement of concession of port facilities has been “disappointing” due to the “low grant values, as seen in the Passenger Terminal of the Port of Fortaleza.” The project was acquired by Grupo ABA Infra for R$ 100,000.

At the time of the Passenger Terminal auction, Lucio Gomes defined the value as “symbolic” and stated that, in some concession operations, “what matters” is to stop economic losses from happening.

Prospects

Augusto Fernandes backs this claim by pointing out other auctions that have taken place in other states during the same time. “The private sector doesn’t buy the terminal. It gains the benefit of financial exploitation. Operators commit to investing in structure, equipment, and scanners. All of this is key to a container terminal,” he says.

Thus, he sees good prospects for the lease of the Fortaleza Port, which should gain dynamism and be modernized through the lease. “From a general point of view, ports grow with private initiative because it is more dynamic. In the public sector, everything is very slow, there are many stages; I understand that it has to be like that, of course, but it is much less dynamic.”

He emphasizes that the Port of Fortaleza lacks investments. “For example, it doesn’t have a large, reference crane. The Port of Fortaleza has been doing what the public sector can, everything that is feasible within the public sector’s budget constraints.”

“Today, for example, the administration of the Port of Fortaleza does not operate 24 hours; it operates sporadically. In a private terminal, that is not the case. This is very important for the sector because today empty containers are no longer returned,” Fernandes highlights.

Source: Diário do Nordeste

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