Petrobras' contract with the Port of Recife is terminated.
The National Agency for Waterway Transportation (Antaq) has declared the lease agreements between Bunge Alimentos at the Port of Paranaguá and Petrobras Distribuidora at the Port of Recife terminated, but authorized the signing of new contracts valid for 180 days, until new bidding processes are carried out, already within the norms of the controversial Provisional Measure 595.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The National Agency for Waterway Transportation (Antaq) has declared the lease agreements of Bunge Alimentos at the Port of Paranaguá and Petrobras Distribuidora at the Port of Recife terminated, but authorized the signing of new contracts valid for 180 days, until new bidding processes are carried out, already within the norms of the controversial Provisional Measure 595.
The resolution was published in the Official Gazette of the Union this Thursday.
Antaq emphasized that the power to sign these contracts now rests with the Secretariat of Ports of the Presidency of the Republic. Before the enactment of the so-called Ports Provisional Measure, this was a task for the local port authorities. In other words, the Port Administration of Paranaguá and Antonina (Appa) and Porto do Recife S/A now only have to sign what is determined in Brasília.
Provisional Measure 595, issued in December of last year, provides for the possibility of extending current lease agreements, conditional on revising the contract values and establishing new minimum transaction and investment obligations.
The provisional measure is being analyzed by a committee in Congress, where it should be voted on by the beginning of April. After the committee, the provisional measure goes to the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies and then to the plenary of the Senate, where it can be converted into law or rejected.
The Brazilian Association of Port Terminals (ABTP), which represents more than 100 port terminals, handling about 90 percent of Brazilian foreign trade cargo, supports the provisional measure. Despite this, the organization hopes that the government and parliamentarians will make adjustments to the text to allow the maintenance of current operations under equal conditions to compete with new terminals that will come into operation under the new model.
Bunge did not have a spokesperson immediately available to comment on the matter. When contacted, BR Distribuidora said it would not comment on the proceedings at the Port of Recife.