Brazil’s ports minister resigns

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.