Brazil plays politics again with port minister appointment

Brazil has appointed a new Minister for Ports, Edinho Araujo who took over the reins of power from the outgoing minister Cesar Borges, on January 5, 2015.

Although totally inexperienced in the port sector Araujo has promised to work hard on two priorities: to release some US$10bn-plus of investment in the organised port areas via new concessions – as envisaged by the new but malfunctioning Port Law of 2013 – and to regulate and improve dredging services.

It is normal for Brazilian presidents to re-shuffle their political power pack after an election but this time Dilma Rousseff – re-elected for another four years in November of 2014 – is encountering major problems and delays because of the fallout from the Petrobras corruption scandals.