BRASÍLIA: Hélder Barbalho has resigned from his post as Brazil’s chief minister of the National Secretariat of Ports after his party, the PMDB, which is currently in coalition with Dilma Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, chose to back her impeachment. Barbalho only took up the role in October 2015 but made a positive impression amongst sections of Brazil’s ports sector, particularly due to his support for early concession renewals for private terminal operators.
These include two of Brazil’s largest terminals, Tecon Santos in the Port of Santos and Terminal de Contêineres de Paranaguá (TCP), which last week had its concession renewed by 25 years after its R$1.1bn (US$310m) investment plan was approved. Several such companies had previously complained about the high risk of investing in their facilities before potentially losing concessions.
The outgoing minister released a video on social media in which he stated: “I did what I could for the development of Brazil, especially Pará so that our state can be a state of opportunity and development.” Within the last five years, the ports ministry has resembled a merry-go-round with five different officials holding the top post since 2011.