A Brazilian judge has rejected a request by Danish shipping group Maersk to suspend a bidding process for the Tecon 10 terminal at Brazil's Port of Santos pending its call for a review to allow firms already operating there into the first phase.
Maersk filed a lawsuit last month against Brazil's marine transport authority (Antaq), calling for corrections to the bidding process to build and run the new mega terminal at Latin America's largest port, as first reported by Reuters.
Incumbent companies are barred from the first round of bidding for the contract for the terminal, which is expected to require 5.6 billion reais ($1.0 billion) of investment.
Judge Paulo Cezar Neves Junior said he did not see any illegality in the way the marine authority designed the auction and noted that Brazil's federal audit court is also analyzing the bidding process. He therefore denied Maersk's injunction request, citing the absence of an imminent risk that would warrant judicial intervention.
In a statement, Maersk said on Wednesday that the ruling, issued on Tuesday, referred to a request for a new public consultation and did not cover its questions over the guidelines barring incumbent operators from the auction's first phase.
The company said it would consider an appeal and other "appropriate measures".
According to the current bidding rules, if no valid proposals are received in the first phase of the auction, operators of existing container terminals at Santos can bid in subsequent rounds, provided they divest their other holdings in the port complex. The marine authority did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The restrictions clear the path for new companies, including Asian rivals or local players such as JBS Terminais, the recently established port operating unit of Brazilian meatpacker JBS. JBS Terminais declined to comment on the matter.
(Reuters - Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes; editing by Philippa Fletcher)