It was the biggest deal ever for a port concession in Latin America. After one year of negotiations, China Merchants Port completed early this year the acquisition of 90 percent interest for 30 years in Brazil’s sprawling Paranagua Container Terminal (TCP).

It is a testament to just how seriously China is taking Brazil’s inclusion in the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.

Located in the state of Parana, TCP is Brazil’s second largest container terminal, serving the country’s southeast region that generates almost half the county's GDP.

The massive injection of capital will increase the terminal’s size and result, company officials believe, in greater efficiency and productivity that will have a positive ripple effect in the surrounding area.

“Today our capacity is 1.5 million containers per year. After this investment … we are going to 2.5 million containers per year. This positions TCP as one of the largest terminals in Brazil and Latin America,” said TCP’s CFO Alexandre Rubio. 

And, according to Mr. Rubio, there are good reasons for Chinese interest in the port.

“Twenty-five percent of all trade in containers is going or coming from China so having this big brother, China Merchants Port, owning TCP, we think we can go faster in the future,” he said.

Construction is already underway to increase the terminal’s docking and stacking capacity by more than 60 percent. That includes expanding the dock another 200 meters, doubling the size of the yard and buying two new cranes this year alone, and giving the port the capacity to receive some of the world’s biggest ships.

There has been a Chinese presence in Paranagua since 2013, starting with the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), which was awarded dredging contracts for the port’s channels and basin – services that will increase after the terminal’s acquisition. “There is a lot of business between China and Brazil and I think our work can improve the efficiency of the transport issue and help the business between the two countries," said Li Yijun, dredging vice project manager at CCCC.