Port terminals association questions auction rules in the Port of Santos

The Brazilian Association of Port Terminals (ABTP) has decided to petition the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) for a hearing on the potential competitive hazards of the project to lease the container mega-terminal STS10 in the Port of Santos.

The entity alleges irregularity in the draft of the auction notice put up for public consultation by the federal government.

Such a request was deemed necessary because shipping companies such as Maersk and MSC are allowed to participate in the tender. The auction proposal authorizes that the two maritime sector giants may participate in the bidding separately but not jointly. However, ABTP believes that this limitation is insufficient.

MSC and Maersk both control port terminals, as is the case for Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP) in the Port of Santos, the result of a joint venture between APM Terminal, a subsidiary of Maersk, and the Swiss Terminal Investments Limited (TiL), which belongs to MSC.

ABTP’s position was recently reinforced by a study by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), an independent agency reporting to the Ministry of Justice, which sees “possible competitive risks that may arise if BTP Santos and/or any of its shareholders win the lease contract for STS10.”

The ABTP move occurred before the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) completed the final draft, allowing the formal call for bids, which should begin after contributions are received during a public hearing. According to the agency’s most recent estimate, the project will be completed and sent to the TCU for study later this month.

According to the president of ABTP, Jesualdo Conceição Silva, the association is not asking the Court to suspend the public consultation on the STS10 but to keep the project from being approved if the tender draft reaches the TCU with the approval for shipowners to participate individually.

The draft notice does not consider “a wide variety of findings” on anti-competitive conduct by shipowners, which has resulted in harm to free competition across port terminals, according to ABTP. The group has emphasized that shipowners want to ship goods via ports in which they have a stake.

ABTP even asked Antaq to suspend the public consultation on the tender, which the agency denied. The dispute over the STS10 – fueled by the global debate over the effects of verticalization on the maritime sector – began last year, before the government launched the tender proposal.

The president of ABTP denies the notion that the organization is promoting a debate on verticalization. “We recognize that verticalization is advantageous in the vast majority of cases.” Instead, according to him, the conversation should focus on “anti-competitive and discriminatory” activities.

“In the country, there are already seven terminals that somehow belong to shipowners. These (anti-competitive) practices have been carried out for some time, directing cargo to terminals without any regulation.”

Source: O Estado de S. Paulo

To read the full original article, please go to: https://www.estadao.com.br/economia/terminal-portuario-santos-tcu/

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