By Brazil Stock Guide – Brazil’s flagship container terminal project, Tecon Santos 10, is now expected to go to auction in April, after regulators complete the final steps needed to publish the tender documents, according to the Ministry of Ports and Airports. The call reflects the statutory 45-to-60-day window between the release of the bid notice — expected late February or early March — and the auction itself, minister Silvio Costa Filho said on Wednesday.
The revised schedule marks a delay from the ministry’s earlier ambition to hold the auction in the second half of March, a period when Costa Filho would still be in office before stepping down in April to run for the Senate. The project has already been sent to regulator ANTAQ, which must finalize the tender documentation and secure board approval. The minister said the government expects greater clarity on the dates next week, following technical talks with the agency.
The calendar being prepared includes a roadshow at B3 in São Paulo in February, alongside meetings with embassies and potential bidders. The government estimates that 11 to 12 groups are currently assessing the asset, including two or three Brazilian players and a broader field of international investors, spanning Chinese, Philippine, Arab and U.S. groups.
Under a ruling by Brazil’s federal audit court, the TCU, the tender will restrict participation by incumbent operators at the Port of Santos and by shipping lines, a sensitive design choice aimed at addressing long-running antitrust concerns around market concentration at the country’s main trade gateway. The exact contours of those restrictions will still be refined by ANTAQ.
Beyond Tecon Santos 10, the ministry plans to carry out 17 port auctions in 2026, including concessions for four access channels at Itajaí, Santos, projects under Codeba in Bahia and the Ports of the South–Lagoa Mirim system in Rio Grande do Sul. The first auction block, scheduled for February, covers terminals in Macapá, Natal, Porto Alegre and Recife, with R$ 229 million in estimated investment.
The agenda also includes the sector’s first-ever inland waterway concession, the Paraguay River, expected to be auctioned in the second half of the year. Additional river projects will be sent to the TCU in 2026, with auctions penciled in for 2027, underscoring how Tecon Santos 10 has become both a test case for investor appetite and a benchmark for Brazil’s port competition policy in a broader infrastructure push.