Brazil’s federal waterway transport regulator identified flaws in a major logistics tender at the Port of Santos but did not suspend the process before the contract was awarded, according to single-source reporting from Folha de S.Paulo.
The tender, run by the Santos Port Authority (APS), covers a planned “logistics condominium” at Brazil’s largest port. Folha reports that the deal could generate more than R$1.06 billion, roughly USD 190 million at recent rates as an approximate conversion, over a 20-year contract with the possibility of extension.
What Folha Reported
The National Waterway Transport Agency (Antaq), Brazil’s federal regulator for ports and waterways, reviewed objections to the tender after industry groups challenged the bidding rules. According to Folha, Antaq’s technical staff found an “evident technical conflict” in the notice and said it needed revision.
The agency did not halt the process at that stage because a Federal Court injunction had already suspended the auction. When that injunction was later overturned, Folha reports, Antaq did not take immediate administrative action before APS homologated the result.
The winning bidder was Consórcio Portolog, the only participant with a valid proposal after another interested company was disqualified. Folha, citing earlier reporting by UOL, said Portolog is administered by businessman João Pedro Camargo, brother-in-law of Bruno Dantas, a minister at Brazil’s Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), the audit court that reviews federal spending and concessions.
Folha also reported that the lead company in the consortium, Oitenta & Nove Ponto Um Administração e Participações, has among its partners João Carlos Freitas de Camargo and Camila Funaro Camargo Dantas, respectively Dantas’s father-in-law and wife. Dantas and members of the Camargo family declined to comment through representatives, according to Folha.
The Disputed Timeline
APS published the tender notice in October 2025, giving companies 16 business days to analyze the project, prepare studies and submit proposals. Six national industry associations warned in November that the area was important to port operations, while APS said the site was a maneuvering area and did not affect port activity.
Portolog’s bid was opened on December 4, 2025. On December 20, the Federal Court suspended the tender. Three days later, Antaq’s technical staff pointed to the flaw in the notice, and on December 26 Antaq director Alber Vasconcelos, the case rapporteur, agreed that the issue required further review but declined to act because the court injunction had already stopped the process.
Abratec, the Brazilian Association of Container Terminals, appealed inside Antaq, arguing that the judicial suspension was temporary and separate from the regulator’s administrative duty. Folha reports that the appeal did not succeed at that stage. Antaq’s director-general Frederico Dias gave immediate effect to the rapporteur’s decision, and the agency’s board later recognized the flaw while allowing the case to continue.
Positions From the Agencies
The legal situation changed on May 7, 2026, when the Federal Court, at APS’s request, lifted the injunction. Abratec filed a new appeal with Antaq the same day. The appeal was scheduled for a May 14 board meeting, but the meeting was canceled because of “operational technical problems,” Folha reported.
Also on May 14, APS homologated the auction result in favor of Portolog. The notice was sent to Brazil’s official press on May 15 and published in the Federal Official Gazette on May 18. Antaq then scheduled the appeal for a May 25 virtual meeting and rejected the request to suspend a tender that had already been decided.
In a statement to Folha, Antaq said its early decision was precautionary and did not represent a final judgment on the validity of the tender notice. The regulator said the case still awaits a definitive decision by its collegiate board.
APS told Folha the tender followed applicable law and regulations and was monitored by Antaq, the TCU and the judiciary. The port authority said the project is a land-based logistics support platform meant to organize truck flows, not a port operation. Brazil’s Ports and Airports Ministry said APS conducted the tender within its delegated authority.
The case returned to court on June 16, when the Federal Regional Court for the 3rd Region again interrupted the bidding process, citing a concrete risk of consolidating a factual situation that would be difficult to reverse.