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

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

Last checked

16 July 2026

Coverage

Related sectors

Dredging is the primary work classification. Related sectors connect this record to adjacent marine delivery and market coverage.

Subject index

Related subjects

These subject pages bring together related projects, technical articles, reports, and evidence methods.

Project anatomy

Contract scope and delivery roles

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 evidence boundary
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.

Project timeline

Material developments

Dated events that changed scope, counterparties, delivery, commissioning or operating status.

Open this project in the Change Log

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.

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.

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.

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.

Source

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.

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.

Source

Evidence gap

What remains unverified

Outstanding evidence

  • 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

Reporting status

Mobilisation, confirmed confidence

Last checked 16 July 2026 across 8 cited sources. The dated timeline above carries the project events.

Last checked 16 July 2026 Cited sources 8

Sources and related records

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Source collections

Project sources 8