Federal Court of Auditors vetoes Portofer rail contract renewal in Port of Santos

The company operates railway lines at the Port of Santos. Port Authority prepares a new network management model.

The management contract for the railway lines in the Port of Santos, under the responsibility of Portofer (Rumo Logística), cannot be renewed. The decision was made by the Federal Audit Court (TCU), which also determined that the Ministry of Infrastructure must present a definition of the public policy for rail access to the Santos pier within 90 days.

Map of rail lines at the Port of Santos:

Portofer signed the contract in 2000. At that time, the Santos Port Authority (current name of CODESP) did not place a bid. The solution was to transfer the line management to the special purpose entity (SPE) created by the railway concessionaires that access the port.

“In this specific case, there are several problems. The first is CODESP’s lack of charging tariffs to its users to justify the non-enforceability of the bidding. This lack of charging tariffs was soon contradicted by contractual permission for the concessionaires to charge the tariffs, if only as a cost reimbursement, and with the agreement that there was no constitution of the planned SPE with all railway concessionaires. This means that the condition that justified the contracting without conducting the bidding contest is no longer valid”, said the TCU minister who reported the case, Walton Alencar Rodrigues.

The minister also points out that “considering that the contract will be in force until June 2025, that is, another four years, and that approximately 80% of its term has already passed, I consider it more appropriate that it is not, under any circumstances, renewed. The necessary measures should be monitored so that the future bidding procedure and the provision of services do not repeat the improprieties identified in the records”.

When asked, the Ministry of Infrastructure and APS reported that they were not concerned by the decision not to extend Portofer’s contract.  “Discussions are already underway for a new management model for the internal railway of the Port of Santos (FIPS).”

Portofer informed that the TCU ruling has not yet been published and that as soon as it becomes aware of the court’s final decision, the company will define its next steps.

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