The TCU (Brazilian Court of Accounts) approved the concession of the waterway access channel to Itajaí Port in Santa Catarina. The project provides for a 25-year contract, with the possibility of extension for up to 70 years, and estimated investments of approximately R$ 300 million.
The concession will be the second of its kind in the country. The first access channel concession in Brazil was at Paranaguá Port, auctioned last year. The expectation of the government and the port sector is that the new model will bring greater predictability to dredging management and maintenance of the region's operational draft.
The project is viewed as strategic following a series of interruptions in dredging of the access channel to Itajaí and Navegantes ports. In April, the region's operational draft dropped approximately 30 centimeters after nearly two months without dredging services, according to an update by the Port Authority.
The expectation is that, with the concession, the channel draft, which currently stands at 13.5 meters, will be expanded to up to 16 meters, allowing larger vessels to enter and increasing the competitiveness of Itajaí and Navegantes ports—which are located one in front of the other.
In practice, loss of draft directly impacts port logistics, especially in container transport, the main type of cargo handled by Itajaí and Navegantes ports. The restriction hinders the berthing of larger vessels and can generate impacts of up to 10% in the region's cargo handling, according to sector estimates.
Dredging services were interrupted at the beginning of the year and resumed in April through an emergency contract. The same situation occurred at the beginning of 2025, however, at that time due to non-payment to Van Oord, the company responsible for carrying out the dredging and which has resumed operations under the current emergency contract.
The operational scenario combines with a recent history of administrative instability at Itajaí Port. Following financial and operational difficulties at the local administration, the port's management was transferred in January 2025 to Santos Port Authority, by decision of the Ministry of Ports and Airports.
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However, the change ended up intensifying political disputes in the region. The then-manager appointed to oversee the port, João Paulo, was linked to the PT and even became a pre-candidate for mayor of Itajaí, which created friction with the city's then-mayor, who was affiliated with the PL. Faced with the impasse, the federal government decided to transfer management again, this time to Codeba.
Terminal concession
Beyond the concession of the access channel, the federal government is still preparing the final structuring for the concession of the Itajaí Port terminal. The project studies were approved in 2025.
Initially, the project was structured with both the permanent concession of the terminal and the access channel. This structuring was revisited by the federal government, which decided to unbundle the two assets.
Currently, terminal operations are under temporary management by JBS, whose contract runs through the end of 2026. The company has already expressed interest in bidding for the permanent concession. JBS Terminais president Aristides Russi Jr. publicly stated that the company intends to participate in the future permanent terminal concession.
Itajaí Port has gone through instability and changes since the previous administration. During the Bolsonaro government, the proposal under discussion was port privatization, which was even approved by the TCU. With the change of government, the strategy was altered to prioritize specific concessions of port assets and services, such as the access channel and the terminal.
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