The early renewal of contracts could yield 5 billion reais in investments for the sector, according to calculations by specialists
São Paulo – Fifteen port terminals filed for early renewal of their contracts with the National Waterway Transport Agency (Antaq).
In order to obtain authorization, the new law requires that each company present an investment plan to expand its business in ports. Some have already completed the project. Others are finalizing the data to forward to Antaq.
The early renewal could yield a few billion reais in investments for the sector. Only the Libra Terminais project, in Santos, foresees investments of almost R$ 800 million. In total, experts estimate that all renovations could exceed the figure of R$ 5 billion.
In the current scenario, the investments would be welcome, since the government is unable to release bids for new areas within public ports. The Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) has not yet released the publication of notices for the bidding in the ports of Santos (SP), Santarém and Vila do Conde (PA).
“For the sector, the anticipation will mean having a more modern terminal, with an improvement in the quality of the service provided”, says the president of the Brazilian Association of Port Terminals (ABTP), Wilen Manteli. “Today this is the government’s way of increasing investment in the sector.”
slowness
The big obstacle, however, is that the renewal request also faces the slowness of Antaq, which does not have enough people to carry out all processes more quickly. “This is the result of centralization. Everything is done in the same place”, complains the Porto Assessoria consultant, Nelson Carlini.
In addition to the issue of renewal, there are 26 other economic-financial rebalancing processes under analysis by the regulatory agency. Some cases are determined by the TCU and others are investments made that were not foreseen in the contract – therefore they need more time to amortize the investment made.
Carlini says the Port of São Francisco do Sul, for example, has been waiting for over a year for a rebalancing request.
Release
In any case, the agency plans to release six early renewal orders by the end of this month. The first should be that of Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN), in Itaguaí, in Rio de Janeiro.
The company's counterpart will be the expansion of the Bulk Terminal (Tecar), responsible for exporting ores and importing coal and coke.
Rumo Logística, ADM, Santos Brasil, Vopak, Cargill, Caramuru and Triunfo are also in line for authorization from Antaq. But the anticipation will only be granted if the project presented is relevant for the expansion of port activity from the government's strategic point of view.
One of the industry's criticisms is that Antaq wants to limit the rate of return on projects. If the contract does not have a specific reference to the return, the rate used by the regulatory agency is 8,3%.
“If you flatten the investor's return, how will there be modernization in the sector. There must be free competition”, says Manteli, from ABTP.
Source: Estadão Content
By: Renee Pereira
