Brazil’s Infrastructure Ministry has awarded two 25-year concessions for port terminals near the easternmost part of Brazil.
Empresa Alagoana de Terminales won the concession to operate the MAC13 terminal in the Maceió Port Complex with a bid of just 15,000 reais (about $2,700). The Intersal Consortium won the licence for the salt terminal of the port of Areia Branca with an offer of 100,000 reais (about $18,000). Each company was the only bidder for its respective concession. Together, they committed to invest 222m reais (about $40m) in terminal infrastructure.
According to National Secretary of Ports and Water Transport Diogo Piloni, the government expected to receive low bids for the licences because of the high investments required to efficiently operate the terminals.
Brazilian Minister of Infrastructure Tarcisio de Freitas said the new investments will strengthen the sugar sector in Alagoas and the salt production sector in Rio Grande do Norte, states in the country’s northeast.
