Lisbon port terminals to be put out to tender in 2024

The Lisbon Port Authority (Administração do Porto de Lisboa (APL) ) has begun to inform the concession holders of the port terminals in the Eastern zone of Lisbon that it does not intend to renew these concessions for a further five years, as it has been asked to do, but instead will put the concessions out to a competitive tender.

The president of the APL, Carlos Correia added that the concession period for the five concessions ends between 2025 and the beginning of 2026, and will put the contacts out to tender next year in phases.
The first tender to be launched will be the grain terminal at Beato which is explored by Silopor, a company that has been in the hands of liquidators since 2001and no longer has any investment capacity.
The concession holders of the other four ‘multipurpose’ terminals for containers – Santa Apolónia, Beato, Poço do Bispo are held by the groups ETE, Yilport and Ership respectively. These have already asked for their contracts to be extended for a further five years – after already having had an extension for five years.
These extensions are foreseen in the contract, but Carlos Correia said it would be a “wasted opportunity” and would only “put off a solution for another five years”.
The President of the APL alleges that these terminals need “significant investments” which include electric traction equipment and equipment powered by alternative energy, as well as “improving the integration of the terminals in the urban setting”.
“The equipment we have today is obsolete and the surroundings are not well cared for”, he said, adding that now the concession contracts are up, there is “an opportunity to (modernise) the terminals”.

Photo: Andy Li, Unsplash.