Iquique port concession has doubled cargo transferences

Date: 2013/02/25

During last decade, the annual cargo transference rate of Iquique Port has doubled, reaching levels that catapult to this days this terminal as the largest trading port in northern Chile. Mainly explained by the entry of a private concessionaire.

In 1998, the modernization law of state port sector, included within the new juridisctions of the newly created autonomous port companies, the ability to bid for the operation areas of berthing.

This allowed Port of Iquique, in 2000, to conduct an international bidding process that awarded the front # 2 called "Breakwater" to Iquique Terminal Internacional (ITI), a company that primarily considered capital from group Sudamericana Agencies Aéreas y Marítimas SAAM-by 60% - and 40% Dragados of Spain, but subsequently were sold up to the current frame, in which SAAM owns 85% and the other 15% is of Shipping Companies, AGUNSA.

Unlike other similar characteristics bids made by port companies, in the case of Iquique, the initial payment or "at front" to be undertaken by the concessionaire to enter the business joined the improvements and investments that it should be performed in accordance with the contract.

For this reason, the investments made by the concessionaire -today exceeds $ 40 million, included the acquisition of high tonnage cranes, yard equipment and the construction of a short-Post Panamax quay of 331 meters long and 12 , 5 meters deep.

Given this successful result, in 2010 and by committing of new investments, concession was extended another 10 years, allowing the port currently has the infrastructure and technology necessary for the arrival of larger vessels arrivals to our country.

Macro Andean region

Investments in port of Iquique are justified by its sustained growth, which has been strongly driven by two factors:

The first is that port of Iquique is embedded in a unique logistics platform, which includes the Iquique Free Trade Zone, the largest in the continent and the biggest mining projects in the country. On the other hand, progress and strengthening of relationships with main productive areas of the continent as Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and western Brazil, which are part of the called Andean macro-region, a market that accounts more than 20 million people and specializes in the marketing of products such as leather, grains, soybeans, minerals, etc.

Today, road communication with Andean macro region, is increased by the construction of a bi-oceanic corridor, about 4000 kilometers linking Iquique with Santos in Brazil, providing a maritime outlet to the productive "heart" of the continent.

New bidding process

Since the beginning of the bid, the Port of Iquique has experienced a significant increase in the amount of cargo transferred, going from 1,333,277 tonnes in 2000 to 2,706,537 in 2011, which is translated into an increase of 103 %.

It also highlights the increase in containerized cargo, whose growth reached 128% in the same period, from 107,545 TEUs in 2000 to 245,329 in 2011, type of cargo, which represents 80% of total cargo transferred, reflecting the effect of specialization that has had the concession of port terminal 2 of Iquique.

Thirteen years of the concession, the results are obvious and proved, over time, the modernization of the state port sector at the beginning of this decade were most needed.

This scenario has led to projections and analysis of strengths and weaknesses and not just the market, but also the infrastructure required to consolidate this growth.

First, Iquique features a private pier or terminal highly competitive to a national and international level, operated by a private under mode "monooperator" and a public terminal operated under mode "multi-operator", which over the years has lost competitiveness against its neighbor, because while the private terminal made the necessary investments to meet market requirements, the public face impossibility of receiving state investments, according to the law governing the sector, has lost competitiveness and has been unable to get deeper draft vessels.

That is why in 2012, Port of Iquique began the process of bidding Terminal 1 "Molo" and its respective support areas, concession will be for 30 years and contemplates as investment works, the expansion of terminal or building A third berth, which will receive a new generation of ships "New Panamax", capable of carrying up to 12,000 containers.

This is expected to generate competitive conditions necessary to meet the new global industry scenario and respond to the demand projected for the coming years in the port of Iquique, which cargo transference rate stood at 5.7 million tonnes year, more than double of what is currently transferred.

Today, the conditions of this process are being reviewed by the Court of Defense of Free Competition. Once pronounced the entity, the necessary adjustments will be made and will be published free of charge.

Source: Pulso Magazine