KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit made further gains today, closing slightly higher against the US dollar amid softer crude oil prices following strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) releases.
A United States diplomat has told Brazil ian port industry executives that Washington does not want a Chinese company to win the concession for a major container terminal in Santos, the largest port in Latin America, in the latest sign that the race for one of Brazil ’s most prized infrastructure assets has become a front in the broader rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
Kevin Murakami, the US consul-general in Sao Paulo, made the comments on March 5, at an event organised by Grupo A Tribuna, a media group based in the port city of Santos. According to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, three business executives who attended said Murakami told the audience the terminal had strategic importance for the United States, particularly in relation to organised crime. That part of his speech was expected. The consul pressed on, however, touching on the auction itself in terms that reportedly caught his audience off guard. Murakami suggested the facility should not fall into “unwanted hands”, a remark those present interpreted as a warning against a Chinese victory.The US consulate in Sao Paulo initially declined to comment. After Folha de S.Paulo published the story, the consulate acknowledged that Washington has “concerns regarding the participation of Chinese companies in the auction, related to sovereignty, security, competition and strategic leverage”. It denied that any direct pressure had been applied over the outcome.Murakami’s remarks fit a broader pattern of American pressure over Chinese port ambitions in Latin America. The Trump administration hasabout Cosco’s newly opened terminal in Chancay, Peru, which Beijing has promoted as a gateway between South America and Asia.from the ports of Balboa and Cristobal at the Panama Canal, a dispute that drew global attention earlier this year when the local Supreme Court The Tecon Santos 10 is a greenfield container facility to be built in the Saboo district of Santos. Covering 621,000 square metres with four berths capable of handling the world’s largest container ships, it is expected to add 3.25 million 20-foot equivalent units to Brazil’s annual container handling capacity, effectively lifting the country from 45th to 15th in the global ranking of container port throughput. The concession lasts 25 years and requires a minimum of 6.4 billion reais in investment, with bidders competing on the size of their upfront payment to the government. The floor for that payment has been set at 500 million reais . China’s interest in the project has been anything but subtle. Cosco Shipping, the world’s fourth-largest container shipping line and a state-owned enterprise, held a videoconference with senior Brazilian officials in September 2025 to express its desire to bid. The company holds a residual stake of less than 5 per cent in a minority investment fund with exposure to an existing Santos terminal, a connection that regulators said could be enough to bar it from the first round of bidding under the rules then being considered. When those rules were formalised, Cosco pushed back through every available channel, filing a formal challenge at Brazil’s federal audit court, the TCU, arguing that excluding major international players would reduce competition, depress the value of bids and ultimately cost the Brazilian government revenue. The Chinese carrier then brought the same argument to Brazil’s competition authority, Cade, in January 2026. China Merchants Port, a state-backed logistics conglomerate that already operates the container terminal in the southern Brazilian port of Paranagua, also entered the fray. Its global vice-president travelled to Brasilia in the first week of January to communicate the group’s interest to government officials directly. The bidding rules that drew Chinese objections have been a source of prolonged conflict within Brazil as well. The country’s port regulator, Antaq, had proposed a two-stage tender in which companies already operating terminals in Santos would be barred from the opening round. The TCU went further in December 2025, recommending that all shipping lines be excluded from the first phase regardless of whether they already operate in Santos. That left the field open to independent terminal operators with no existing presence in Santos. Among those that have expressed interest are the Philippine group ICTSI, which already operates terminals in Brazil, JBS Terminais, a port unit of the Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS, and PSA Corporation, the Singaporean port operator. Arab sovereign wealth funds have also been mentioned as potential bidders., the two largest container shipping groups in the world and co-owners of an existing Santos terminal, from the opening round. MSC said it was prepared to go to court. The tender has since slipped to the second half of 2026 after missing successive deadlines. The government now says it is reassessing the model, raising the possibility that restrictions on shipping lines could yet be revisited before an auction date is set. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POSTRinggit extends gains against greenback amid softer oil pricesBursa Malaysia ends higher tracking regional gains, KLCI up 1.1% Cambodia out to prove it's not making up the numbers as coach Gyotoku eyes semis at the 2026 Asean Hyundai Cup
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