Maersk sues over $1 billion Brazil port auction, MSC Group’s TIL may follow

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SOu Paulo (Reuters) -Ice shipping groups look forward to the Brazil courts to cancel the rules of competition that prevents them from participating in the first round of bidding at a major new container station in the largest port in Latin America, is scheduled to take place later this year.

The Danish Shipping Group Merck filed a lawsuit on Monday in Sao Paulo against the Brazilian Maritime Transport Authority (Antak) and its general manager, according to the Reuters document. The lawsuit called for “procedural corrections to ensure a fair process” to appoint the Tecon 10 station in Santos Port.

The bidding rules, set by Antak, are under review by the Brazilian Federal Audit Court (TCU).

The Master Group in the private sector also hopes to make a change in the rules. Patricio Junior, regional investment manager at the MSC Master Investment Station, said that TI is studying a lawsuit if TCU does not impose changes on the process.

The auction rules would prevent Maersk, MSC and other operators of current container stations in Santos from the first round of bids to build and operate the new Megateminal, which is expected to require 5.6 billion investment ($ 1.0 billion).

This may open the door for his Asian competitors or a local player such as JBS Terminais, the new port operating unit at the Brazilian Meatpacker JBS, which seized a container station in ITAJAí, in southern Brazil, last year. JBS refused to comment.

Antik, who described Tecon 10 as the largest auction for the port in the history of Brazil, said that its bidding rules are aimed at enhancing competition. The agency said it had not been officially notified about the lawsuit and reiterated that the operation is currently with TCU, pending a decision.

If no valid proposals are received in the first stage of the auction, you say that the operators of the current container stations in Santos can bid in the subsequent rounds, provided that they make their other property in the port complex.

Merck refused to comment on the lawsuit, but he called for a more transparent operation to ensure fair competition.

“With the exception of companies with extensive international experience, responsible for managing some of the most efficient ports in the world, without comprehensive studies to support such a decision, it greatly reduces the capabilities of the project in the largest port in Latin America,” Merck said in a statement.

Some heavy users of the port’s infrastructure in Santos also expressed their concerns about the bases that can provide bids to TECON 10.

Eduardo Heron, coach of the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council, said the group is defending “wide and unrestricted participation.”