In Portugal, Silopor, which is been a liquidation for several years, has issued a tender for the handling of bulk cargo at its terminals at Beato and Trafaria, in Lisbon. The reference price quoted for the contract, which will run for one year only, is in the region of €2 million and involves handling agribulk. The winner will be the company offering the most competitive price.

The contract has had to be put out to tender given the strange financial situation of Silopor. In October 2014, the government decided to cancel a tender it had issued due to the fact that there has been legal action taking place between bidders.

The original concession was launched in 2007, resulting in a provisional award being made to Grupo ETE in January last year. However, the new concessionaire pointed out that changes to the market meant that it could not pay the €40 million of promised upfront investment nor the further €122 million it had agreed to invest over the 25 years of the concession. This infuriated opponents, such as Sogestao, which had offered €62 million, resulting in the whole process ending up in the courts.

BC