Cade’s Superintendence sees possible problems in a terminal auction at the Port of Santos

The General Superintendence of CADE (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) published this Wednesday (29) a technical note that identifies possible market concentration problems in the planned auction of a container terminal in the Port of Santos that could reinforce verticalization of the groups international Maersk and MSC in the country.

The area, STS-10, is known as “Cais do Saboó” and has about 600 thousand square meters adjacent to the area occupied by BTP Santos, a joint venture for container handling controlled by Maersk and MSC, according to the technical note published by Cade. .

The federal government plans to auction the STS-10 for the fourth quarter of this year and the public notice is expected to be published in the third quarter. The project has an investment forecast of R$ 3.28 billion, according to data from the PPI (Investment Partnership Program).

According to the technical note, if BTP Santos wins the auction, its handling capacity will increase from 2 million to 4.32 million TEUs per year, “allowing its shareholders, Maersk and MSC, to expand the handling of their cargo in the terminal own, which is currently not fully possible due to the lack of idle capacity of the [terminal] BTP Santos”.

Maersk and MSC are the only two vertically integrated carriers with port terminal services in Brazil, according to the autarchy’s technical note prepared to help Antaq (National Waterway Transport Agency) to format the auction. MSC holds interests in the container terminals Multi-Rio (RJ), Portonave (SC), Vila Velha Terminal (ES); Maersk, on the other hand, holds shares in the container terminals APMT Pecém (CE), APMT Itajaí (SC) and Itapoá (SC).

The technical note was published about a month after Cade’s Superintendence recommended the approval, without restrictions, of the sale of control of the Brazilian logistics operator Log-In to a subsidiary of the MSC maritime group.

According to ABTP (Brazilian Association of Port Terminals), the presence of shipowners, companies that operate in the transport of containers, in auctions such as the STS-10 can reach the value of freight.

“The indiscriminate and unregulated participation of large companies in the maritime transport of containers market in the bidding processes can generate increases in freight prices in the long term and reduce the routes for the flow of Brazilian cargo”, said ABTP president Jesualdo Silva, in communicated.

When contacted, BTP Santos could not immediately comment on the matter.