📋 Tender Overview
The Ministry of Ports and Airports, together with state tourism secretaries and cruise industry representatives, announced the creation of an interministerial working group that will be responsible for developing the first national cruise navigation plan. The initiative seeks to expand Brazils competitiveness in the sector, focusing on investments in infrastructure, legal certainty, bureaucracy and stimulation of maritime tourism.
The Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho, said the measure represents a historical opportunity. We want to turn this meeting into a landmark for the cruise sector, with a national plan involving advertising, infrastructure, federal revenue, regulation and tax reform. Our expectation is to announce this program until COP-30, leaving an important legacy for the country, he said.
The National Secretary of Ports, Alex Sandro de Avila, presented the project schedule already underway. In October we will perform the auction of the Maceio Terminal; in November, the Recife; and in December, the great auction of the port of Santos, which also foresees one billion reais in investments for a new passenger terminal. In Parana, the state government has already signaled investments to meet next seasons demand, he explained. According to him, these initiatives reinforce the confidence of the sector and represent four concrete signs of new terminals that must materialize over the next five years.
Global CLIA CEO Bud Darr stressed that Brazil brings together all the elements to become a world reference. There are currently 81 ships under construction in the sector, totaling US 71 billion in investments. Brazil has all the ingredients to be extremely successful, as long as it offers solid infrastructure, demand enough and competitive costs with other markets, he said. He praised the new concession of the Recife Terminal and recalled that 96% of Brazilians traveling in cruises show interest in repeating the experience, a number greater than the global average.
The state secretaries also defended regional integration, especially in the Northeast. Eduardo Bismarck, from Ceara, stressed the importance of standardizing rules and overcoming bureaucratic barriers, while Marilia Lima Herrmann, from Alagoas, emphasized the need for integrated itineraries that contemplate the entire region. Already Marina Dias Marinho, from Rio Grande do Norte, reinforced the relevance of investments in dredging to allow the attraction of larger vessels.
The cruise sector already moves R 5.2 billion per year and generates 84 thousand direct and indirect jobs in Brazil. With the National Cruise Navigation Plan, the federal government intends to consolidate the country as a strategic destination of global industry, expanding investments, strengthening infrastructure and promoting maritime tourism throughout the national territory.
Special Advisory of Social Communication Ministry of Ports and Airports
