Project record

Paranaguá access channel dredging concession

Official nautical chart of the Paranaguá access-channel concession boundary, inner and offshore channel alignments, anchorages, and designated disposal area

ANTAQ / Infra S.A.

Brazil's first dedicated port-access-channel concession has moved through auction, homologation, and contract signature toward a planned 1 August 2026 operating transfer. The concession joins long-term dredging, depth, hydrography, navigation aids, traffic management, berth access, and sediment-disposal obligations, while the current concessionaire portal still distinguishes a 13.3-metre operating draft from the 15.5-metre contractual target.

Project signal

Mobilisation in Brazil

Treat 1 August as a scheduled operating and tariff handover, not proof that transfer occurred, that the pre-handover campaign finished, or that the 15.5-metre target has been delivered. The immediate controls are tariff commencement, accepted baseline bathymetry, plant and survey mobilisation, environmental and disposal procedures, navigation-aid continuity, the resolved VTS schedule, and the first concession-period dredging and acceptance records.

Current status Concession signed; 1 August operating transition remains scheduled, with the 13.3-metre baseline still controlling Source confidence Confirmed

Location

Brazil / Americas

Segment

Dredging

Status

Concession signed; 1 August operating transition remains scheduled, with the 13.3-metre baseline still controlling / Confirmed

Evidence reviewed

16 July 2026

Controlled taxonomy

Related sectors

The detailed segment above is the primary work classification. These broader sector links connect the project to related delivery and market research.

Knowledge context

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Project anatomy

Scope, counterparties, and execution logic

Client / authority
Brazilian Federal Government and National Waterway Transportation Agency (ANTAQ), with Portos do Paraná at the operating interface
Delivery parties
Consórcio Canal Galheta Dragagem (CCGD), FTS Participações Societárias S.A., DEME Concessions NV, DEME Dredging NV
Contract route
ANTAQ Auction No. 05/2025 used a hybrid tariff-discount and grant-fee competition. CCGD won after 20 live bids with a 12.63% tariff discount and R$276 million grant fee; the 25-year concession was homologated in December 2025 and signed in March 2026.
Execution window
The contract was signed on 12 March 2026 and Portos do Paraná's current tariff notice sets 1 August 2026 as the expected concession start. ANTAQ's project page places VTS and hydrographic-survey implementation within the first two contract years, capital, adjustment, and deepening dredging, Anchorage 6 works to -14.5 metres DHN, rock removal, and navigation-aid works in years three to five, and recurring service from year six. The concessionaire portal instead labels VTS/VTMIS for year five, so the exact approved VTS milestone remains unresolved in the public record and should be checked against the signed contract and PEAA rather than inferred from either summary page.
Works package
Administer and operate the organised port's wet-access system, including channels, turning basins, anchorages, berths, navigation aids, vessel-traffic services, hydrographic surveys, periodic maintenance dredging, berth-operability dredging, deepening and adjustment dredging, rock removal, nautical-document updates, and associated environmental and disposal controls across the Paranaguá access system.
Marine interfaces
The concession boundary extends from the organised port and inner channels through the Galheta access alignment to the offshore approach and disposal area. Performance depends on coordinated dredger, rock-removal, and survey mobilisation; channel and berth availability; sediment placement; navigation-aid uptime; VTS operation; hydrographic acceptance; traffic windows; and a managed transition from Portos do Paraná's current maintenance campaign.
Commercial read
ANTAQ records R$1.226 billion of CAPEX and a contract value of about R$9.97 billion. The award requires R$1.22 billion in the first five years while the concessionaire collects the dedicated access-infrastructure tariff. The PPCC portal also publishes a R$1.02 per cubic metre charge for use of the oceanic disposal polygon. The commercial test is therefore sustained depth, service, survey, disposal, navigation-system, and tariff performance across the full term, not a one-off capital dredging quantity.
Next milestone
Confirm the 1 August operating and tariff transfer with a dated notice, then capture accepted baseline bathymetry, current operating draft, navigation-aid condition, environmental and disposal procedures, first concession-period dredging notice and plant, and the reconciled contract schedule for VTS, surveys, deepening, rock removal, and progression toward 15.5 metres.

Material change register

What changed, when, and what it proves

Only source-bound events that alter phase, scope, counterparties, delivery, completion, commissioning, or acceptance are listed. A change can advance the record without proving the next gate.

The concessionaire portal exposes the operating baseline and unresolved VTS schedule

PPCC publishes a 13.3-metre current operating draft, 15.5-metre target, March 2026 bathymetry, and VTS under implementation. Its year-five VTS label differs from ANTAQ's first-two-year summary, so neither summary page should be promoted into an accepted contract milestone.

Read controlling source

The port tariff notice set a planned 1 August handover

Portos do Paraná says Table I will move to PPCC and gives 1 August 2026 as the expected concession start. This is a transition notice, not evidence that handover, tariff collection, or service acceptance has occurred.

Read controlling source

A separate public maintenance campaign preceded the concession transfer

Portos do Paraná placed Van Oord's Vox Amalia on the 2026 campaign and targeted end-June completion. The campaign belongs to the pre-handover maintenance regime and does not name the concession fleet or prove completion.

Read controlling source

The 25-year concession contract was signed

DEME confirms the signed contract and PPCC operating vehicle. Signature moved the project into mobilisation and transition, but it did not deliver the future 15.5-metre target or establish physical works acceptance.

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The ministry homologated the auction result

Homologation confirmed CCGD as the selected consortium and closed the auction stage while leaving contract signature, transfer, mobilisation, dredging, and service performance for later evidence.

Read controlling source

CCGD won Brazil's first port-access-channel auction

Twenty live bids produced a 12.63% tariff discount and R$276 million grant fee, with R$1.22 billion of first-five-year investment. The auction created a long-term delivery obligation rather than a completed deepening result.

Read controlling source

Delivery watch

Evidence needed next

Confirm the 1 August operating and tariff transfer with a dated notice, then capture accepted baseline bathymetry, current operating draft, navigation-aid condition, environmental and disposal procedures, first concession-period dredging notice and plant, and the reconciled contract schedule for VTS, surveys, deepening, rock removal, and progression toward 15.5 metres.

Decision watchpoints

  • 1 August 2026 operating and tariff transition
  • Baseline hydrography, mobilisation, environmental controls, and disposal route
  • First concession dredging campaign, plant identity, and accepted output
  • Contract-year phasing for VTS, surveys, deepening, rock removal, and the 15.5-metre draft objective
  • Navigation-aid, VTS, berth-access, and nautical-document performance
  • Resolution of the public first-two-year versus year-five VTS schedule
  • Separation of pre-handover maintenance, the 2027-2028 Antonina transition, and concession delivery

Related records 2

Project availability status

This public project page is a tracked market record rather than a tender notice, contractual commitment, or commercial instruction. Use the status, confidence label, evidence-review date, and source note together when judging how much weight to place on the signal.

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Record control

Evidence reviewed date is not a project-event date.

IMWO changes phase, participants, scope, completion, or acceptance wording only when a dated source establishes the change. The review date records when the evidence set was checked; it does not claim that physical work changed on that date.

Evidence reviewed 16 July 2026 Sources in this record 8

Source record

The Ministry of Ports and Airports records CCGD's October 2025 auction win, 20 live bids, a 12.63% tariff discount, R$276 million grant fee, R$1.22 billion investment in the first five years, December homologation, and March 2026 contract signature. DEME identifies 12 March as the signature date and Paranaguá Port Channel Company SPE S.A. as the operating vehicle. ANTAQ defines the 25-year term, CAPEX, contract value, concession area, and phased dredging, survey, rock-removal, berth, VTS, and navigation-aid duties; it also separates the 2027-2028 Antonina transition outside the concession area. Portos do Paraná sets 1 August as the expected tariff and operating start and records the separate pre-handover Vox Amalia campaign with an end-June target. The PPCC portal publishes a 13.3-metre current operating draft, 15.5-metre phase-two target, March 2026 bathymetric baseline, no active notice to mariners at its April check, and VTS in implementation. ANTAQ's first-two-year VTS summary and PPCC's year-five label are not synchronized, so the signed contract and approved PEAA must control. The planned handover, end-June campaign completion and target depth have not been confirmed.

Phase: mobilisation. Evidence reviewed: 16 July 2026.

Project sources 8