If you move boxes through Brazil, the fight over Santos Tecon 10 is worth watching. APM Terminals, owned by Maersk, and Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), owned by MSC, have reportedly filed a new proposal with Brazil's competition authorities in another attempt to qualify as bidders for the Tecon 10 container terminal at Santos. Santos is Brazil's main container gateway and handles roughly 5m teu a year. Whoever builds and runs the new terminal will shape berth availability, and eventually rates, on your South America east coast lanes for the next two decades.
What Happened
The Tecon 10 tender rules were written by Antaq, Brazil's National Waterway Transportation Agency, and signed off by the Federal Court of Accounts. Those rules restrict participation by operators that already run terminals inside the port. APM Terminals and TiL both fall into that group, which is why they have had to argue their way back into the process rather than simply submitting a bid.
The latest filing goes to Brazil's competition regulators and sets out how the two carriers-turned-terminal-operators propose to address the concentration concern. Terms of the proposal have not been made public. Until the regulator responds, it stays unclear whether the pair will be cleared to bid, cleared with conditions attached, or shut out again.
Impact on Freight Rates and Operations
Nothing changes on your booking screen this month. The effect is medium-term and it is about capacity. Santos runs close to full during the soybean and sugar peaks, and congestion there has repeatedly pushed vessel waiting times up and schedule reliability down. A new deepwater container terminal adds berth capacity that the port badly needs.
The competition question matters just as much. If the two largest carrier groups in the world control a further slice of Santos capacity, shippers lose some negotiating room on terminal handling charges and slot access. If the terminal goes to a neutral operator instead, non-alliance carriers keep an easier route in. Either outcome eventually shows up in your THC line and your equipment availability at Santos.
What Shippers Should Do
- Track your Santos dwell times now. Build a baseline of gate-in to vessel-load hours so you can prove the cost of congestion in your next tender.
- Check your THC exposure at Santos. Pull the terminal handling charges on your last 12 months of Brazil bookings and see how much of your door-to-door cost sits with the terminal rather than the carrier.
- Keep a second gateway priced. Paranagua, Itapoa and Navegantes are workable alternatives for southern Brazil cargo. Have a live rate on file before you need it.
- Ask carriers about 2027 onward capacity. Terminal build-outs run five to seven years. Long-term contract talks are the place to raise it.
Key Takeaway
Brazil's competition regulator, not Antaq, now decides whether Maersk and MSC get a shot at Santos Tecon 10, and that ruling sets the cost and capacity picture at Brazil's busiest box port for years.
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Source: The Loadstar