Brazil signs 25-year lease for Santana grain terminal on the Amazon

A 25-year lease for the MCP01 solid vegetable bulk terminal at Brazil's Port of Santana has been formalised, with R$150.2m ($30.3m) of planned investment, after infrastructure group CS Infra won the asset, Brazil's Ministry of Ports and Airports has said. The ministry marked the deal at Santana on 23 October. Port regulator ANTAQ records the contract-signing stage as completed on 4 September, so the October ceremony was not the first legal execution of the lease.

MCP01 covers 30,546 square metres and has an expected dynamic capacity of 1.26 million tonnes a year. ANTAQ puts the contract value at R$1.109bn ($223.4m) and capital expenditure at R$150.204m. The terminal is designated for solid vegetable bulk cargoes: ANTAQ lists wood chips as its principal cargo, while the ministry's statement highlights soybeans and corn.

What will be built?

The investment programme covers paving and drainage, fire-protection systems, operational buildings and cargo-handling equipment. Later phases include a conveyor system with a nominal capacity of at least 1,500 tonnes an hour, expansion and strengthening of Pier 2, and a 1,500-tonne-an-hour shiploader. The pier works are intended to let the terminal handle panamax vessels of up to 60,000 dwt.

CS Infra won ANTAQ Auction No. 01/2026-MCP01 on 26 February with a concession-fee bid of R$2 ($0.40). The legal lessee is MCP01 Arrendatária Portuária SPE S.A. CS Infra, created in 2021, is the infrastructure-concessions arm of Brazilian holding company Simpar and manages long-term concessions and service contracts across ports, highways, urban mobility, social infrastructure and environmental services.

The Port of Santana, on the Amazon River in Amapá state, is part of Brazil's Arco Norte export corridor. It handled about 3.6 million tonnes of cargo in 2025, up 13.54% year on year, and 403,000 tonnes in the first two months of 2026, up 6.52%.

This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 29 October 2026.