Trends in port concessions and PPPs in Latin America

A port concession is a contract by which a public authority delegates the operation, maintenance and, often, the investment of a terminal to a private party for a defined term. A PPP is a broader form of public-private collaboration that distributes responsibilities, risks and revenue between the parties.

The value of these schemes lies in their design: who bears demand, construction, tariff or currency risk, and how it is remunerated. A poorly allocated contract becomes unworkable or litigious, no matter how good the asset is.

Three trends stand out: greater bankability requirements from lenders and multilaterals, more weight on ESG and resilience criteria in structuring, and stronger interest in flexible operating models that allow phased expansion instead of large one-off works.

The independent technical advisor (ITA) role is also growing in financial closings, because lenders and investors want to independently validate operational and financial assumptions before committing capital.

Viability depends on aligning four layers: market (real demand and corridors), technical (capacity and infrastructure), financial (model, revenue, cost and risk) and institutional (regulatory framework and governance). When one layer is structured without the others, the project weakens.

DUAGA is a top-tier boutique firm in port strategy, transactions and PPPs, with leadership across the Americas. Its approach integrates those four layers to turn a port opportunity into a viable model of investment, operation and public-private collaboration.