Latinports Newsletter January-March 2013

January-March 2013
Year 5, No. 1
The New Commercial Mega-blocks
of the World (and its Impact in Latin
America)
Port Infrastructure and
Transportation: the Greatest
Investment Opportunities in Latin
America
Panama Canal Authority Enters
Latinports
Ver mas... Ver mas... Ver mas...
FourthAnnual Latinports Event to be held
in May in Cancun, Mexico
15, 16 y 17 de Mayo
Infrastructure & Development

CONTENTS
January
March
2013
LatinAmerican Port News
Mail
IVANNUAL SEMINAR OF LATINPORTS
Editorial
Cover
Cancun’s Beach, the seat of the
IV annual event of Latinports
to be held in May, jointly with
the Association of Terminals
and Port Operators of Mexico
and the Mexican Association
of Port, Maritime and Coastal
Infrastructure. Cancun’s Beach,
the seat of the IV annual event of
Latinports to be held in May, jointly
with the Association of Terminals
and Port Operators of Mexico and
the Mexican Association of Port,
Maritime and Coastal Infrastructure.
Design
Julian Pineda
www.miroamarillo.com
studio@miroamarillo.com
- Chairman of the Executive Committee
of Latinports in the Senate of Brazil on the
Modification of the Law of Ports
- Chairman Elect and Executive Director of
Latinports Met in Mexico to Coordinate the
Annual Event
PRESIDENCYAND EXECUTIVE DIRECTION
- Port and Transportation
Infrastructure: The Greatest
Investment Opportunities in Latin
America
- Port Investment Optimization
- Project of Bioceanic Corridor Brazil-
Chile reactivates
- Infrastructure: Pending in Latin
AmericaAccording to IDB
LOGISTICS,COMPETITIVENESS
AND PORTS IN LATINAMERICA
- Shipping lines Reduce Speed of
Mega-Containerships to Save Fuel and
Survive
- Shipping lines Consider Joining to
Fight Low Demand
SEATRANSPORTATIONAND
PORTS
- Augusto García, General Director of
CorporaciónAutónoma Regional del Río
Grande de la Magdalena, Colombia
THE INTERVIEW
WATERWAYS IN LATIN
AMERICA
- Amazon Waterway in Peru under
Concession Process
- Infrastructure & Development
- Executive Director of Latinports Met with
the New General Coordinator of Ports and
Merchant Marine of Mexico
LATINAMERICAAND THE WORLD
- Lack of Transportation Infrastructure
Affects Global Economic Growth
- The New Commercial Mega-blocks of the
World (and its Impact in LatinAmerica)
- “This is the Decade of LatinAmerica”
- Economic Growth in LatinAmerica: Peru the
Highest and Brazil the Lowest
- Free Trade Zone between Colombia, Chile,
Peru and Mexico
New Members
- Panama CanalAuthority
- Latingroup
- Transportlog

Enero - Marzo 2013
S Editorial
In view of the great welcome to our newsletter for the amount of relevant
information that ever more frequently is produced in the region each time, we
have decided to start the year with something new: produce and distribute the
newsletter quarterly (and further on every two months), so the information arrives
to our readers as soon as possible.
As has been traditional, we start the year with good news, which on this occasion
is the entry of the Panama Canal as member of Latinports. The Panama Canal is
the most representative institution of the seaport sector of the region and one of
the most representatives worldwide, and for this reason we are proud to have it
among our increasing number of affiliates.
Another news worth mentioning is the celebration in May of our annual event in
Cancun, Mexico, jointly with the annual congress of the Association of Terminals
and Port Operators of that country, ATOP, and the Mexican Association of
Ports, Sea and Coast Infrastructure, AMIP, at the opening of the new federal
government and the reform of the law of ports. Furthermore, at this time the new
chairman of the executive committee of Latinports, Mexican Arturo López, will
take office. Precisely, Arturo López, president of the Altamira Port Terminal was
the founder of ATOP and its president for ten years, which makes him one of the
most outstanding persons of the Latin American port sector.
We also emphasize on the ever increasing relevance that Latin America is having
worldwide, the fact being that important analysts consider that in the next ten
years some of our countries will be included in the list of developed countries.
This appreciation fills us with pride and obliges us to work in consequence to
achieve this.
Finally, we invite you to consult on your mobile device, from the month of May,
our redesigned and upgraded webpage www.latinports.org.
jpalacio@latinports.org
www.latinports.org
Julian Palacio
Executive Director

Enero - Marzo 2013
IV ANNUAL SEMINAR OF LATINPORTS IN
CANCUN, MEXICO
HOTEL GREAT PARNASSUS, MAY 15-17
INFRASTRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT
The Association of Terminals and Port Operators
of Mexico, ATOP, the Mexican Association of
Ports, Sea and Coastal Infrastructure, AMIP, and the
Latin American Association of Ports and Terminals,
LATINPORTS, cordially invite to participate in this
annual event, which is the platform where experts
of the Latin American port and coastal sectors meet
to enter businesses, contribute with their knowledge
and ideas to support development of regional
economies.
Participate with us and know the tendencies of the
Latin American port and coastal sectors in the voice
of recognized specialists and significant actors of
these activities. It is a meeting that encourages the
establishment of a professional network of high level
contacts, allows spreading its business, listening and
learning from others, finding possible cooperators,
partners or investors. Networking facilitates exchange
of information and contacts as well as establishing
relationships with persons that share professional
interests.
Please find more information in the Website www.
congreso.atop.ami.org.mx or emailing to congreso.
atop@atopac.mx or calling to telephone 52 55
90002511 in Mexico.
Hotel reservations (Code AMIP-ATOP):
phone (998) 2871400 or emails reservations1@
parnassusresorts.com and groupsparnassusreseorts.
com

Enero - Marzo 2013
CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF
LATINPORTS IN THE SENATE OF BRAZIL
ON THE MODIFICATION OF THE LAW OF PORTS
Great Parnassus Hotel, Cancún
Richard Klien highlighted the “boom” of the
Brazilian foreign trade as a result of the expedition
of the ports act in 1993, which led to the movement
of containers grow five times in only 15 years
(1996-2011) with competitive terminals worldwide.
Although shown agree in general terms with the
provisional measured amending the law, he did fall
into account that competition must be fair between
all the container terminals, proposing the expansion
of terminals to receive megaships, extension of
existing lease contracts to enable the expansions
and the equalization of prices and costs among all
operators of port terminals for this purpose.
The Chairman of the Executive Committee of
Latinports (and Chairman of the Board of Directors
of Santos Brazil and MultiRio container terminals),
Richard Klien, on behalf of the Brazilian Association
of Terminals of Containers, Abratec, intervened
at the public hearing of the month of March in
the Senate of Brazil to secure the position of the
Guild in the new port reforms. In this presentation

Enero - Marzo 2013
CHAIRMAN ELECTAND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF
LATINPORTS MEET IN MEXICO TO COORDINATE
THEANNUAL EVENT
Jaime Aguilar, Atop Executive Director, Julián Palacio, Latinports Executive Director,
León Fregoso, Atop Chairman, and Arturo López, Latinports Chairman-elect
On March 21 in Mexico City, the Chairman Elect
of the Executive Committee of Latinports, Arturo
López, and the Executive Director, Julian Palacio,
met with the President and the Executive Director
of the Association of Terminals and Port Operators
of Mexico ATOP, León Fregoso and Jaime Aguilar.
That meeting defined the last details of the annual
event that the two associations will make in Cancun
in May, jointly with the Mexican Association of Port,
Maritime and Coastal Infrastructure, AMIP.

Enero - Marzo 2013
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF LATINPORTS MET WITH
THE NEW GENERAL COORDINATOR
OF PORTSAND MERCHANT MARINE OF MEXICO
LACK OF TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
AFFECTS GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH
Guillermo Ruíz de Teresa
General Coordinator of Ports and
Merchant Marine of Mexico
During his trip to Mexico in March, the executive
director of Latinports had the opportunity to
meet with the new General Coordinator of Ports
and Merchant Marine of Mexico, Guillermo
Ruiz de Teresa, who said that the priorities of
his Administration will be efficiency and the
conectividade of Mexican ports, pillars for the
development of foreign trade.
Deficiency in transport and communications
infrastructure is one of several supply chain barriers
that act as obstacles for speeding up global economic
growth, wrote Container Management. That is the
conclusion of a report entitled “Enabling Trade:
Valuing Growth Opportunities”, prepared by the
World Economic Forum in collaboration with the
World Bank, and Bain & Company, a Boston-based
global management consulting firm.

Enero - Marzo 2013
THE NEW COMMERCIAL MEGA-BLOCKS
OF THE WORLD
(AND ITS IMPACT IN LATINAMERICA)
Below is an article of the important editor for Latin America of the Miami Herald and author of several
books on the region, Andrés Oppenheimer, published in the economic paper Portafolio of Colombia in
February (parenthesis is ours)
The announcement by President Barack Obama in
his speech of the State of the Union on the United
States negotiating free trade agreements with Asia
and Europe has brought forth a tricky question: how
will Latin America be impacted with the creation of
new commercial blocks of the largest economies of
the world? The answer seems to be that some Latin
American countries will benefit from these mega-
commercial agreements, while others will be harmed.
Before analyzing which countries will be performing
well with the new commercial world geography
and which not, let us see two facts. In his annual
speech before Congress, Obama stated that
other than current negotiations for the signing
of the Transpacific Association Agreement with
several Asian countries and some Latin American
countries of the Pacific coast, Washington will start
conversations to sign a Transatlantic Association
Agreement with 27 countries of the European
Union. The Transatlantic Agreement seeks among
other things to promote the recovery of Europe and
reactivate world economy, and would result in the
creation of the largest free trade block worldwide.
The United States and Europe already represent
47% of global economy and one third of world
commerce.
Although the European Union is already the most
important commercial partner of the United States
and customs tariffs between both parties are low –
around 4 percent – the Transatlantic Agreement will
further boost bilateral commerce, reducing costs
for exports on regulatory barriers. The Transpacific
and Transatlantic free trade agreements of Obama
are the most ambitions commercial initiatives
of the United States after the collapse of 2005
in negotiations with the Free Trade Area of the
Americas that included 34 States of the continent.
Now, upon the lack of another US project to create
The Transatlantic Agreement that seeks to
encourage Europe recovery and reactivate world
economy would create the largest free trade
block of the planet.

Enero - Marzo 2013
to compete with its neighbors that have already
entered into these agreements with the United States
and Europe. “Brazil or Argentina may believe they
will continue eternally growing by making business
mainly with China, but the fact is that the United
States and Europe represent 47 percent of world
economy, while China represents approximately 12
percent”, said Loser.
My opinion: yet to be seen is that the Transatlantic
and Transpacific free trade agreements materialize,
and if they will be as ambitious as Obama stated. It is
also possible that China reacts by accelerating its own
negotiations to form its own commercial mega-block
with India and other Asian countries.
But I agree with almost all foreign trade experts
that if the countries of Mercosur do not enter into
some of the new commercial mega-blocks of the
world, they will remain ever more behind compared
to Mexico, Colombia, Chile and other more
globalized Latin American nations. Considering
that Latin America represents only 8 percent of
world economy, Mercosur members will deceive
themselves if they believe they may grow faster by
only making business among their own neighbors.
The world of the commercial mega-blocks will seem
ever more like the game of chairs, or the musical
chairs, where countries that do not find a seat will be
out of the game.
a continental free trade block in the Americas, the
new commercial plans of Obama with Asia and
Europe may have a positive impact on Mexico,
Central America, Colombia, Chile and other
countries that already have free trade agreements,
both with the United States as with Europe, as stated
by most experts in foreign trade. Inversely related,
new commercial initiatives of the United States may
harm members of Mercosur – the commercial block
formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
and Venezuela– and that do not have free trade
agreements with the United States or Europe.
“If you already have free trade agreements with the
United States and Europe, as is the case of Mexico
or Colombia, you may export the same product,
under the same conditions, to a much larger market”,
states David Lewis, trade specialist of the consulting
firm Manchester Trade of Washington. Besides,
Latin American countries that already have free trade
agreements with the United States and Europe may
possibly attract more U.S. and European investments,
stated Lewis. This because the Transatlantic
Agreement would eliminate restrictions currently
faced by European companies as may be, for
example, sending tax free products manufactured
with European materials from Colombia to the U.S.
market.
Claudio Loser, a former official of the International
Monetary Fund and currently a member of the
Centennial Group, another consulting firm of
Washington, states that countries of Mercosur such
as Brazil and Argentina will be the biggest losers if
these commercial mega-agreements materialize. Only
if the Mercosur countries enter into, at least, a free
trade agreement with Europe, it will be very difficult

Enero - Marzo 2013
“THIS IS THE DECADE OF LATINAMERICA”
Extracts of the interview of newspaper El Tiempo of Colombia to Benita Ferrero-Waldner, president of
the European Union-Latin American and Caribbean Foundation (Foundation EU-LAC), former minister of
Foreign Relations of Austria and former Commissioner of Foreign Affairs and Commerce of the European
Union
“I believe this is the decade of Latin America, as said
by Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the IDB. The
region has greatly improved in reducing poverty and,
today, a large part of its inhabitants now belong to
the middle class, which has undoubtedly contributed
to a constant and solid economic growth, and also
an institutional strengthening. At the same time,
Latin America has learned from its previous crisis
and in general has followed an economic and
fiscal policy for budgetary consolidation, which
has made it stronger in this global economic crisis.
However, regarding innovation, productivity and
competitiveness there is still a lot to do; also, higher
education must be improved and more equal fiscal
policies must be considered. Besides, there is yet
much to do in physical security, sometimes in legal
security and in fighting corruption, all in order to
improve governance.
“Latin America lives an unprecedented boom
and bonanza, and the fact this is produced
simultaneously with a significant strengthening of
its democracies and a role ever more active of its
civil society constitutes a framework enabling to
look to the future with optimism. And perhaps
the peace process now undertaken by President
Santos (of Colombia) may be successful, which will
undoubtedly make of your country one of the most
outstanding of the region”.

Enero - Marzo 2013
ECONOMIC GROWTH IN LATINAMERICA:
PERU THE HIGHESTAND BRAZIL THE LOWEST
The magazine Dinero of Colombia published an
article of the newspaper Folha of Sao Paulo quoting
studies of the British consulting firm Economist
Intelligence Unit and of banks Itaú and Hsbc,
which show that the economic growth of Brazil will
have the lowest annual medium of South America
between 2011 and 2013, whereas Peruvian economy
shall be the most dynamic within the region, with
an economic growth at an annual average of 6.4%
during the analyzed period. According to these
analyses, the second place will be for Ecuador (5.5%),
followed by Chile (5.4%), Colombia and Bolivia
(both 5%), Argentina (4.9%), Uruguay (4.6%),
Guyana (4.5%), Surinam (4.5%), Mexico (3.9 %),
Paraguay (3.2 %) and Venezuela (3.2 %).
In the case of Brazil, the three studies forecast that
the annual growth medium will be 2.4% between
2011 and 2013, period that coincides with the time
in office of President Dilma Rousseff. According to
the chief economist of the bank Itaú, Ilan Goldfajn,
all Latin American countries have suffered the
effects of the global crisis, but the deceleration of
Brazilian economy is higher, basically because of a
very low investment rate that moves around 18% of
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In Peru and
Ecuador, the two Latin American countries with
the best economic performance, this rate arrives to
25.4% of the GDP, stated the expert. In the opinion
of the chief economist of bank HSBC in Brazil,
André Loes, another of the factors explaining the
slowness of the Brazilian economy is the loss of
competitiveness in the national industry, caused by
technological backlog and infrastructure deficiencies
causing a rise in prices. “Brazil has become an
expensive and uncompetitive country, and this has
a negative impact on investment decisions”, stated
Loes.
Studies also quote some Asian and European
countries that will have a better performance than
that foreseen for the economy of Brazil, until now
considered by many financial analysts as the “engine”
of Latin America. Among them worth noting are the
growing forecasts for China, placing it at an average
of 8.5% between 2011 and 2013, Indonesia (6.4
%), India (6.4 %), Turkey (5.2 %), Malaysia (4.9 %),
Russia (3.9 %), Thailand (3.4 %), South Africa (3.1
%), and Poland (2.7 %).

Enero - Marzo 2013
Separately from the summit of the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) held
the end of January in Santiago, the four countries
of the Alliance of the Pacific thoroughly accelerated
their intention of creating a free trade zone this year
and announced this will be done before March 31st,
as informed by the economic publication Portafolio
of Colombia.
Although this is the homologation of free trade
agreements existing among them, it encourages their
wish to advance as quickly as possible, only seven
months after the creation of this Alliance, which
main objective is to increase commerce with Asia,
the region growing the most. “This is a concrete
proof of the pragmatism of the Alliance of the
Pacific and its wishes to advance quickly”, stated to
AFP the political scientist of the University of Chile,
Guillermo Holzmann.
Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru, the economies
that grow the most in Latin America, have free
trade agreements with the European Union and the
United States, as proof of their incessant commercial
opening. “The four countries of the Alliance
of the Pacific share an economic development
philosophy that define them as an open regime,
oriented to international and friendly trade with
foreign investment”, explained on the other hand to
AFP Raúl Feliz, academician of the Research and
Economic Teaching Center (CIDE) of Mexico.
Brazil, the largest economy of the region, seems to
take its own path seeking a strong regional leadership.
Altogether with Russia, China, India and South
Africa, Brazil is part of the BRICS group that gathers
large emerging countries that have joined together
in the main world economic forums. “Being in the
BRICS group causes Brazil to go its own way”, said
Holzmann. “Brazil has a self-development project,
with less liberal characteristics but not completely
closed to trade”, stated on the other hand Raúl Feliz.
Thus, analysts coincide that the bet for free trade or
for protectionism will continue coexisting in Latin
America.
FREE TRADE ZONE BETWEEN COLOMBIA, CHILE,
PERUAND MEXICO

Enero - Marzo 2013
Jamaica’s Industry minister Anthony Hylton has
stated that this country is planning to expand its port
facilities in the hope of becoming the fourth major
hub in the world, along with those in Singapore,
Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Rotterdam
(Netherlands). This ambitious project, estimated to
cost between US$7 billion and US$8 billion over a
five to ten year period, has been endorsed by The
World Bank, announced Port Finance International.
According to the World Bank, with the right
investment and global partnerships, Jamaica can
become the transshipment logistics hub of the
Americas, the Caribbean’s strategic handling point for
bulk commodities, as well as the Latin American and
Caribbean centre for ship repair and dry docking. It
is being spearheaded by the government so Jamaica
can make the most of the increased maritime activity
expected from the expansion of the Panama Canal
by 2015.
After sending a delegation to Jamaica, The World
Bank has started to provide technical assistance
in the development of the master plan for the
logistics hub. The pillars of the master plan should
be unveiled by June 30. Government’s “Logistics
Hub initiative” comprises six projects: dredging the
Kingston Harbor, expanding port facilities at Fort
Augusta and Gordon Cay, establishing a dry dock
facility at Jackson Bay (Clarendon), establishing a
transshipment commodity port near Yallahs (St.
Thomas), developing the Caymanas Economic Zone
(CEZ), and developing an air cargo and passenger
facility in Vernamfield (Clarendon). The CEZ project
is expected to get started within the next few months.
“Some elements of the work should begin by May,”
Hylton told in a press conference.
Minister Hylton has exhorted potential bidders on
the project to act quickly. “There is a first mover
advantage”, he said.
JAMAICALOOKING FOR INVESTORS FOR ITS
BILLIONAIRE LOGISTICS HUB

Enero - Marzo 2013
in Colombia is that we have an inadequate
infrastructure (…) that is a problem, an obstacle for
growth”, added the official.
The Deputy Secretary of the Treasure of Mexico,
Fernando Aportela, stated that the number of
reforms the Government wants to approve for
the financial sector seek to improve the capacity
of development banks of the state to work with
the private sector. And he said it is also important
to involve pension funds that in Mexico manage
assets amounting to more than 150 billion dollars,
among other participants. “What I consider very
important is to promote private sector participation
in infrastructure production”, stated Aportela.
The IDB considers that Latin American investment
in infrastructure needs to at least be doubled from
the current 2.5% of the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP), and that almost half of this must come from
the private sector. This increase could generate an
increase of up to 2 percentage points in the actual
potential growth of the regional GDP, he added.
If infrastructure investment rates are maintained
between 4 and 6 percent of the GDP for 20 years,
the region could eventually reach the levels of East
Asia. China and the IDB announced yesterday a
fund to which the Asian giant will contribute 2 billion
dollars for public and private investments in the
region.
Latin Business Chronicle, collecting news from
CNN Expansion and Reuters within the framework
of the annual meeting of the Inter American
Development Bank (IDB) held in Panama in mid-
March, emphasized that Latin America is seeking
ever more the private sector to help finance an
infrastructure deficit of 200,000 million dollars a
year, which is a setback to economic growth and
prevents the region from reaching to other emerging
markets. A better infrastructure, from roads to ports,
up to public services suppliers is one of the most
important needs of the region, as stated by financial
officers, but limited state budgets restrict the amount
that may be spent by governments, therefore more
private participation is required.
The infrastructure sector has a “great potential”,
stated the general manager of the Central Bank
(Banco de la República) of Colombia, José
Darío Uribe. “One of the bottlenecks to growth
Infrastructure: Pending in LatinAmerica
According to IDB
Mexico highlights impulse to development
banks
Infrastructure needs and forecasts

Enero - Marzo 2013
Standard & Poor’s observed a strong growth in
financial support demand for infrastructure. Last
year it qualified a record of 25 bond issuance in this
sector and during this time of 2013 it has received
applications for 15 similar issuances, stated Jane
Eddy, corporate and sovereign funding director of
the firm for Latin America. In recent years there has
been a large growth in local banks for infrastructure
financial support, expressed Mini Roy, of the funding
department to global trade of Sumitomo-Mitsui
Banking Corporation. “Government support and
Latin America has yet to fill huge infrastructure gaps,
and now is the time for governments of the region
to address the diverse challenges implied. Since
Latin American countries have shown their great
capacity to adapt to global economic uncertainties,
public budgets are increasing, and private investors
are turning more frequently to Latin America for
new opportunities, as may be assumed from Survey
2013 of BNamericas on infrastructure. There are
also advancements in the legal systems, as improved
schemes of public-private associations (PPA) are
attracting investors for infrastructure projects.
Only to mention one country, Brazil, which
according to those surveyed will be the main
destination in the region for infrastructure initiatives,
is working a portfolio of projects valued in hundreds
of thousands of millions of dollars. In the light of
two important sports events in the near future, the
World Cup 2014 and the Olympic Games of 2016
in Rio de Janeiro, many of the planned projects are
still to come out from the drawing table. Rhythm of
works must accelerate in the next 18 months and
for this the entire industry must cooperate, starting
with contractors to provide services to suppliers
and teams. The same government is launching a
new wave of infrastructure works to add up new
vigor to the economic cycle. There are also many
more opportunities in other countries such as
Chile, Colombia and Peru, while in Mexico the new
understanding of local players is rapidly extending”,
he pointed out.
Brazil, host of the Olympic Games and the World
Cup in the next years, expects approximately 94
billion dollars in annual investment in the sector up
to 2017. Economists of the IDB state that Latin
America is a pioneer in attracting private capital for
infrastructure development, but its participation
in this segment has recently fallen. Between 2001
and 2011 the region attracted only 29% of the total
amount invested in the developing world, compared
to 52% in the ten (10) preceding years.
PORTAND TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE:
THE GREATEST INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
IN LATINAMERICA
Demand for financial support

Enero - Marzo 2013
government has the political opportunity to start
important projects in the entire nation.
On the other hand, deficient management of
projects and bureaucracy are still being considered
as the origin of important setbacks. However, since
the eyes of international companies continue to pose
on the region, Latin American governments must
benefit the most of such a fertile environment of the
market for the benefit of millions of persons and
firms that still lack appropriate public transportation
systems such as roads, trains, ports and airports.
Article written for Port Finance International by Dr.
Simon Su, Director and Chief Economist of the
consulting firm BMT Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of the
BMT Group, based in Hong Kong.
The strong growth in many of the emerging markets,
including the BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India
and China) is reorganizing the world’s economic
panorama, changing the traditional relationships
towards a West-East and North-South economic
influence. As such, the new commercial patterns
continue developing, that is, the intra-Asia-Pacific
trade, the intra-emerging commercial economies (as
China-Latin America) and the China-Africa trade.
This diversification is already raising questions and
uncertainties in other parts of the world, particularly
PORT INVESTMENT OPTIMIZATION
Port investors must recognize the opportunities
and challenges in variable trade patterns, and
also respond to the changing global economic
panorama.

Enero - Marzo 2013
In the last publication of the World Economic
Vision, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
forecast that the long-term growth will remain at
a level sufficiently sound in many of the emerging
markets and developing economies. Even more
important, acceleration is expected in a real 3.25%
growth of the GDP in Latin America for the
second semester of last year up to 4.75% during
the second semester of 2013, being Brazil the main
promoter for this increase. Asian development is
also experimenting growth accelerations because
of the recent encouragement for the approval of
infrastructure projects in China. These emerging
markets are already influencing commercial patterns
and arguments are it is at the expense of other parts
of the world – European ports, currently in a rather
precarious situation, are the main example. As these
economies become more prominent, port investors
around the world must recognize opportunities
and challenges, and consequently respond to this
changing panorama.
Brazil, in particular, is becoming a hot spot for
investors because of the recent impulse of the
government to simplify procedures for private
investors to get involved in the development of port
infrastructure projects. Supported by strong forecasts
in growth rates, both the larger markets of Latin
America and those of Africa might also present on
the outside a great opportunity for port investors.
However, it is important considering that strong
growth prospects are very long-term and in the
short-term these economies are still rather volatile,
therefore investors must identify and have in mind
any risk potential.
Governments have a vital role supporting these
infrastructure projects, where its scope goes farther
away than a simple development of port facilities.
For example, in some countries, investors have
supported the design and construction of last
generation port facilities having found that cargo may
not be efficiently transported to and from the port
because of road congestion or to a deficient external
infrastructure (highlighted by us).
In a tender to attract foreign investment,
governments may also give some guarantees without
duly considering the impact they may have on
existing local businesses. This may at the same time
bring forth difficulties and political situations where
promises are not kept. Port investors must therefore
be careful and assure they carefully investigate and
plan proposed options for the site presented to them.
Detailed market studies include economic analysis
and investment planning developed in the first
stages of the process, before acquiring lands or
equipment, which undoubtedly will give investors
efficiencies at a longer-term, and also the productivity
they are trying to achieve. Questions on which is
the economic prospect and the industrial tendency,
and what is the merchantability and the objective
investment value will allow investors to determine
the growing prospects of local economy. It is vital
for any investment to know its market. Carrying out
the due diligence on what type of cargo has had
the greatest growing potential will help identify the
in European ports, many of which are struggling to
continue resisting.

Enero - Marzo 2013
types of services and facilities needed to be offered
by your port or to be put in place to stay ahead of
competition (highlighted by us). The investigation
should also include the evaluation of current
situation, compared to transportation links to the
interior and to the ports of the competition, or
other possible port sites. Even more, investors must
understand the implications of the policies affecting
trade, such as cabotage, free zones or bonded
warehouses at ports. As the industry develops, it is
possible that port development concentrates more
in the area of bonded warehouses because of the
more flexible existing regulations related to taxes and
customs dispatch.
accommodated, and also a quick and easy rotation
time. Having this in mind, planning and feasibility
studies related to sea transportation and traffic model
must be carried out to help identify navigation risks
and at the same time ensure that port resources are
efficiently managed.
Upon designing a port, flexibility is a key issue.
Within the phase of the master plan, three types of
cargo may be identified as the key market for a port
in particular. However, what happens when any of
these markets has a low execution? Investors are
then left with a particular section of the port having
a slow activity. Ports must be designed in such a
way that areas with the expected performance may
accommodate a market that produces income – this
flexibility in the phase of design helps to reduce
investment risk.
While real opportunities exist to achieve a sustainable
growth in the long-term for port investment in
emerging markets, not all that glitters is necessarily
gold (highlighted by us). Before committing to
support a certain scheme, it is essentially important
to carry out a thorough evaluation focused on three
dimensions of the Master Plan of the Port. The
Economic Analysis and Investment Plan and the Sea
Transportation and Traffic Model will assure that
the appropriate scenarios are considered, and also
that relevant risks are mitigated as part of the due
diligence prior to a formal contract.
Upon carrying out a master plan, investors must also
focus their efforts towards port layout, identifying
processes involved in handling cargo and seeing
how to rationalize these processes that go beyond
its control –as customs –. When this situation is
faced, port investors may consider cooperating with
customs authorities in particular to identify how
to reduce, for example, waiting time. To maximize
opportunities and present its port facilities as an
attractive option for shipping lines, investors may
offer flexibility within the rank of ships to be

Enero - Marzo 2013Mayo - Agosto 2011

Enero - Marzo 2013
The Brazil-Chile bioceanic integration should be
a reality in the short-term. This is the result of the
debate regarding the creation of an interoceanic
corridor connecting both countries, an idea deeply
discussed in Santiago by President Dilma Rousseff,
of Brazil and Sebastián Piñera, of Chile, the end of
January, as informed by Mundo Marítimo quoting
Agencia Brasil. During the work meeting prior to
the opening of the first Summit of the Community
of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)–
European Union (EU), Piñera presented a road map
to the Brazilian president to retake discussions on
this matter. Dilma Rousseff stated, after discussing
the matter with her peer, that the countries will start
working for the integration of their main sea ports.
During the joint declaration, the Brazilian president
emphasized the fraternal relationship between both
countries, despite not having borders in common.
“This friendship without borders now becomes
a friendship without frontiers”, stated Rousseff,
emphasizing that the integration between the two
neighboring economies is also being discussed by
means of a railway corridor. The president stated
that even in the face of the difficulties imposed by
the international financial crisis, Brazil and Chile will
continue maintaining a growth trajectory, distributing
its income and maintaining a strategic commercial
relationship, mainly in the field of investment.
According to the article of Economía y Negocios of
December, the bioceanic corridor that today it takes
transporter eleven days to travel 3,270 kilometers
between Arica and Santos, will be reduced in two
days once the bioceanic road corridor between
both cities is opened. This allows that the bioceanic
corridor may be traveled without interruptions
between Arica and the Brazilian coast. However, still
missing are some stretches of the branches that take
to the alternative roads of Iquique (Peru) and Brasilia
(Brazil). Pending works concentrate between Oruro
(Bolivia) and the Chilean frontier, and a stretch
between the localities of Concepción and San Matías,
all in Bolivia.
PROJECT OF BIOCEANIC CORRIDOR
BRAZIL-CHILE REACTIVATES
The Project

Enero - Marzo 2013
Mundo Marítimo, quoting Agencia Andina, informed
that according to the Agency for the Promotion of
Private Investment of Peru (ProInversión), the sale
of the basis to award the concession of the Amazon
Waterway Project will start the first quarter of this
year and tender will be under the modality of co-
financed integral projects. According to the tentative
schedule, presentation of the technical and economic
offer will be done during the fourth quarter of 2013.
The waterway system basically formed by the
Marañón, Huallaga, Ucayali and Amazon Rivers will
become a waterway system to interconnect the towns
of the Amazon region in Peru. The project proposes
to develop a series of works and actions, among
which is dredging the opening at places representing
navigation restrictions located alongside the rivers
forming the system, and also the access to the main
river port terminals.
News of The Wall Street Journal from Zeebrugge,
Belgium, informs that the largest containership of
the world, the Marco Polo of CMA CGM, capable
of transporting 16,000 TEU at a maximum speed
of 24 knots, after a stop at the Belgian Port returned
to China at a speed of only 14 knots to save fuel.
Below is an extract of the analysis of the situation by
journalist Inti Laudaro, with our subtitles:
The concessioned company will be in charge of
works and facilities required for the correct operation
of the waterway and its maintenance, and also
traffic control allowing normalizing navigation in
the different stretches of same. Concessionaire
will also install a system to Help Navigation that
complements existing signals, which will provide
security to navigation at all parts that present some
level of considerable difficulty. Likewise, a network
of river gauges will be installed enabling to know
at all times the level of rivers at strategic points,
inform navigators of conditions expected during
their journey and improve knowledge on rivers
hydrology. Also will be established a maintenance
and monitoring system of dredging works, systems
to aid navigation and the network of river gauges in
order to assure navigation conditions for the system.
AMAZON WATERWAY IN PERU UNDER
PROCESS OF CONCESSION
SHIPPING LINES REDUCE SPEED OF
MEGA-CONTAINERSHIPS
TO SAVE FUELAND SURVIVE

Enero - Marzo 2013
The size of the Marco Polo and its speed in the
Europe-Asia route, shows an interesting and
dynamic sub-relation for the industry of sea cargo
transportation, as in order to deal with excess
containers capacity and the fall of transportation
tariffs, companies as the French CMA CGM
and Danish A.P. Moller Maersk are making an
effort to operate the greatest possible number of
ships, benefitting of the economies of scale, and
developing transportation at moderate speeds to
save fuel. Decelerating ships, a practice known as
slow vapor, not only offers environmental benefits,
but upon making fewer trips the ships may adjust to
a lower demand per cargo space. Analysts state this
practice has helped prevent a complete collapse of
sea transportation tariffs.
CMA CGM ordered the Marco Polo in 2007,
when the navigation companies were struggling to
accompany the global trade boom, expanding their
fleets with ever larger ships. However, the financial
crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed in
the United States and the European Union caused
trade volume to fall leaving many ships inactive and
causing transportation companies to lose money.
Nevertheless, the French company informed it
decided to continue with the purchase of the Marco
Polo, betting on an extra-big size ship and that a
lower operational cost per container would help to
overcome minor competitors.
The Marco Polo will lose its crown as the largest
containers ship of the world in just a few months,
when its rival Maersk puts in service the first of
20 ships it ordered, capable of transporting 18,000
containers each. Large ships may be a powerful
weapon when dealing with market participation as
its operation cost per container is almost 10% lower
than minor ships, according to Charles W. Clowdis,
transportation analyst of the consulting firm IHS
Global Insight.
Nevertheless, the competition is also purchasing
bigger ships, state the analysts. In 2015, 16 companies
will be operating ships with a capacity of at least
12,000 containers, compared to current nine (9),
according to Alphaliner, transportation databank.
“If the market recovers quickly, let’s say, in three to
five years, these will be more intelligent ships; but, if
the market continues sinking, huge ships will worsen
the situation, states Clowdis. Problems of excess
capacity that devastate routes joining the United
States and Europe with Asia will probably transfer to
other routes, alerted the analyst, as some ships of the
9,000 container category that today are considered
inefficient for the main routes, are being chartered
by secondary routes to transport cargo between Asia
and South America/the Caribbean, which are served
by much smaller ships.
Underutilization of Speed of Ships
Ever Larger Ships in an Uncertain Market
Latin American Trend

Enero - Marzo 2013
If you cannot against them, join them. This seems
to be the premise under which most European
shipping lines are operating nowadays, as the idea
of merging becomes more and more a possibility in
the era of capacity oversupply and low demand and
tariffs, according to a recent report from Bloomberg,
informed Mundo Marítimo.
As reported, the German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd
AG (sixth worldwide) might be in conversations
to merge with Hamburg Sued (12th place), states
Bloomberg. Both, the two shipping lines, will have
a capacity only below Maersk Line, CMA CGM
and MSC. While Hamburg Sued focuses on North-
South routes, Hapag-Lloyd would mostly operate the
East-West routes, as between Asia and Europe.
The board of directors of both companies are
analyzing since December 2012 “if and under
what conditions a merger between both companies
would be of interest”, stated the Bloomberg report,
specifying that none of the shipping lines is available
for comments. Analysts quoted by the report stated
that a merger between both shipping lines would
result in operational benefits, increase the profit base
and lead to cost reductions.
As reported, the German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd
AG (sixth worldwide) might be in conversations
to merge with Hamburg Sued (12th place), states
Bloomberg. Both, the two shipping lines, will have
a capacity only below Maersk Line, CMA CGM
and MSC. While Hamburg Sued focuses on North-
South routes, Hapag-Lloyd would mostly operate the
East-West routes, as between Asia and Europe.
The board of directors of both companies are
analyzing since December 2012 “if and under
what conditions a merger between both companies
would be of interest”, stated the Bloomberg report,
specifying that none of the shipping lines is available
for comments. Analysts quoted by the report stated
that a merger between both shipping lines would
result in operational benefits, increase the profit base
and lead to cost reductions.
However, despite the existing possibility of mergers
in the horizon of the shipping industry, analysts
interviewed by Bloomberg believe there will not be
a spread of mergers in future years, as much of the
consolidation potential has already taken place.
The strategy of merging to fight decreases of the
industry is not new to the shipping world. Some of
the giants of today are the result of past mergers.
French CMA CGM was created by the merger
between Cie. Maritime d’Affretement and CGM
in 1996. Then in 1998, it acquired the Australian
ANL. The Taiwanese Evergreen Marine Corp. has
absorbed companies such as Uniglory and Italia
Marittima in the last decades. On the other hand,
Maersk has acquired shipping lines among which
are containers operations of Sea-Land Services and
Royal P&O Nedlloyd, as stated in the report.
SHIPPING LINES CONSIDER JOINING TO
FIGHT LOW DEMAND
Conversaciones actuales
A history of mergers

Enero - Marzo 2013
The Magdalena River is a national priority. Experts
assure it is the most valuable and important natural
wealth of Colombia. But we do not appreciate this.
Having been for two centuries the fundamental core
of the progress of the country, it was abandoned.
First the train and then the road to the coast
displaced the river as cargo and passenger means
of transportation. The great river has sediment and
its waters are contaminated, fishing decreased 70
per cent, overflow is more frequent and “the jewel
of the crown” is no longer a national objective.
After many studies and great efforts, some of them
unsuccessful, the government of President Santos
assumed the duty of recovering the river, allocated
resources for such an important task, and delivered
the responsibility of executing such a challenge to the
aforementioned corporation.
Below are extracts of the interview of former
presidential candidate, Horacio Serpa, to the general
director of Cormagdalena, Augusto García:
“We will have a River with 886 navigable kilometers”
In view of the increasing importance of waterways
worldwide for a substantial reduction of internal
transportation costs, with a friendly treatment of
the environment, we consider highly topical the
interview of Ola Política to the general director of
Corporación Autónoma Regional del Río Grande de
la Magdalena, Cormagdalena.
THE INTERVIEW
I am one who considers that Cormagdalena
is the principal entity of Colombia because of
the responsibility it has to address the most
important natural resource of the nation as is
the Magdalena River. But it has always had
difficulties in matters of funding. How is this
situation now?
This is an industrial and commercial enterprise of the
State, created by the Constitution under the initiative
of several constituents, you among others, to give
the Magdalena River the importance it deserves.
Fortunately, this government has allocated a budget
of approximately US$700 million for the project
of recovery. The decision was adopted in view of
the river being not only a waterway, but also that its
reactivation meets a multiple purpose: environmental,
social and obviously economic.
Presidents always refer to the Magdalena River, but
for a long time ago a president had not referred as
concretely as possible to the river and to the need
of its recovery. Will this investment to recover
the Magdalena River be canalized through the
corporation?
Augusto García, General Director of
Corporación Autónoma Regional
del Río Grande de la Magdalena, Colombia
“We will have a River with 886 navigable
kilometers”

Enero - Marzo 2013
Yes. In fact, last January 15 was opened the public-
private association process, already on the internet
pages of the government, and it is a project that
must be completed in September of this year. Works
amount to US$600 million that pretend to build
channeling works between Puerto Salgar, La Dorada
and Barrancabermeja, and the maintenance of the
river from Puerto Salgar. With this we will have a
river 886 kilometers long, 7 feet depth (minimum
permanent upstream), totally suitable to become the
principal transportation waterway for national cargo.
Upon the award of the contract, how long will
the execution of works last?
There is a difference between dredging, maintenance
and construction. Maintenance will be assumed as of
January 1, 2014 with the basic purpose of addressing
cargo transportation. And channeling works will last
3 years.
in November of this year. The best places are now
being identified for the hydroelectric plants, and also
plants of what size: in some central micro sites, in
other medium sites, that will help to regulate river
flows and energy generation.
And what may you tell us of our beloved
Barranquilla?
What we want with the Magdalena River in matters
of transportation is to reduce internal transportation
cost that today must be covered by many Colombian
entrepreneurs, above all coal producers from the
center of the country, Santander and the Boyacá-
Cundinamarca savannah. But the river needs a port
with a great draft, where large ships may arrive
and take these products at competitive prices to
the international market. Thus, Barranquilla has
reactivated its deep-water project: a 20-meter deep
port where any type of ships may arrive, especially
the larger ships that will move through the Caribbean
after the extension of the Panama Canal. Therefore,
Barranquilla, and in Cartagena the port of Sociedad
Portuaria, will be two destination ports for the
Magdalena River, capable of transporting cargo
abroad.
And the Canal del Dique? (artificial arm of the
river ending in the bay of Cartagena)?
Regarding Canal del Dique we have presented a
project to the Adaptation Fund for the preparation
of a great study – with resources already allocated
by this government of approximately US$700
million – in such a way we may know which are the
works to be built there, and that besides maintaining
navigation allows protecting municipalities from
overflows as those that occurred in 2010.
In other times there were boats and ferries full
of folklore, with orchestras playing cumbia and
the music of the breeze. Will we see this again?
Towards the future, will there be programs for
energy generation?
Of course. We are developing with the government
of China a study for a great plan to use the
Magdalena River, and one of its most important
projects is energy generation. This study will be ready

Enero - Marzo 2013
Enero - Marzo 2013
We are preparing a project with the Vice-Ministry of
Tourism so the middle and higher Magdalena may
become an attractive tourist scenario for Colombians
and foreigners…. The problem is there are no
navigation means as before: no boats, no ferries, and
no ships to allow tourists to travel. We want to invest
in ports and docks, in viewpoints and seawalls, for all
this to contribute to a great national tourist project.
What may we say to Colombians to have them
once again fall in love with the Magdalena
River?
The river basin produces 80 percent of the Gross
Domestic Product of Colombia and is inhabited by
30 percent of its population. This by itself speaks of
the great importance it has for Colombians. When
we allow that today abandoned municipalities – that
were founded next to this great interconnection
waterway – reactivate again, the Magdalena River will
undoubtedly have a better image.
which will allow the transit of containerships of up
to 12,000 TEU with maximum dimensions of 49
meters of beam, 366 meters of length and 15 meters
of draft, and other types of ships such as bulk grain
ships of up to 170,000 tons of dead weight, which
will allow meeting demand beyond the year 2025.
Marketing director is Oscar Bazán obazan@
pancanal.com.
After its opening almost one hundred years ago (its
centenary next year), the Panama Canal has had an
effect of extensive proportions by shortening sea
communication time and distance, the dynamics of
commercial and economic exchange by providing a
short and relatively inexpensive transit route between
the two oceans, decisively influencing world patterns
of trade, promoting economic growth of developed
and developing countries, and further providing
the basic impulse for the economic expansion of
many remote regions of the world. The extension
currently being developed will be completed in 2015,
NEW MEMBERS
LATINGROUP

Enero - Marzo 2013
ZPMC is a famous heavy-duty equipment
manufacturer, and a state holding company listed
on A and B shares in Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The major shareholder is China Communication
Construction Co., Ltd. (CCCC) which is one of top
500 companies in the world.
Zhejiang Zengzhou Shipbuilding Co, subsidiary of
Zengzhou Group, is one of the key Ship Building
& Repairing Projects of large scale introduced by
Zhoushan Government, which is run under the
modern shipbuilding pattern in accordance with
Modern Enterprise System. Company covers an
area of 127 acres, with a 658m deep-water coastline,
which makes up a vast ocean to possess a unique
geographical superiority for ship building and
repairing.
The president of Latingroup is Rafael Torres
president@latingroup.com.co
The representatives for Latin America of Chinese
State Enterprises, involving companies with the
highest ranking and international recognition as
Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co ZPMC,
China Machinery Engineering Corporation CMEC
and Zhoushan Zengzhou Ship Repairing & Building
Co, with an increasing Latin American sea port
market potential.
CMEC is the first large national corporation
integrating foreign trade with industry. Is a large
global conglomerate with the contracting of the
international engineering projects and the export
of complete plants as its core business and its main
business includes the foreign trade business, R&D
work and design as well the international service
trade.
This recently created Colombian company,
dedicated to consultation, supervision, management,
structuring and development of ports, sea and river
projects, and transportation logistics, is formed
by experts of the highest level in national and
international projects, and is here to fill a gap in the
Latin American media as it may be entrusted with all
phases of a project: from technical studies, financial
evaluation, up to legal viability, strategic alliances
and achievement of investors. As a whole, partners
of the company have successfully developed many
projects in aforementioned sectors.
For additional information please visit webpage
www.transportlog.com.co or directly contact
Mauricio Esteban mesteban@transportlog.com.co

Enero - Marzo 2013
Latin American Port News
Bolivia
Bioceanic Corridor Brazil-Bolivia-Chile will
open in April:
Government Accepts Renewal of Port Contracts
Signed After 1993:
According to Valor of Brazil, on April 5 at San José
de Chiquitos, Bolivia, will take place the opening
of the called Bioceanic Corridor, an input network
that will allow communicating the Atlantic and the
Pacific, through Brazilian, Bolivian and Chilean
territories, from the port of Santos to Arica, passing
through Bolivia. This corridor is the result of an
agreement signed in 2007 by former presidents Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Michelle Bachelet of
Chile, and Evo Morales, of Bolivia, at an estimated
cost of US$604 million.
equality with new private terminals” as has been
requested by current operators.
Government Makes Known National
Transportation Strategy
According to the article, one of the landmark cases is
that of Santos Brasil that is requesting an extension
of the contract of its terminal, responsible for almost
55% of the movement of containers of the port
of Santos. The company commits to invest US$350
million in works that will enable berthing super
containerships and increase 50% movement capacity
of cargo in the terminal. The article adds that the
government is willing to reach an agreement for new
investment commitments not only with Santos Brasil
but with all other container terminal operators.
According to an article of Valor of the beginning of
March, the government is favoring the renewal for
25 years of the contracts of public service terminals
tendered after 1993 in exchange for investments,
explaining that “this measure will allow greater
Brasil Chile

Enero - Marzo 2013
SAAM Associates for the Exploitation of the
Buenavista Port in Colombia:
BNAmericas informed that according to the
communication of the Ministry of Transportation
and Telecommunications (MTT), the government
informed its national transportation strategy that will
guide the policies and actors of the sector for the
years to come.
“
Our country is changing. It is renewing its engine
with a more powerful one. As Ministry, we must
respond to this context and retake an important role
in planning, task that was delayed for many years.
To recover and strengthen this function, we are
promoting the greatest transformation process since
the creation of the MTT in 1974”, stated the office
director, Pedro Pablo Errázuriz.
National transportation policy points guiding the
transportation sector towards objectives, priorities
and long-term instruments, among others the
modification of road, port and railway infrastructure
sectors, and the implementation of investment plans.
Among the specific projects incorporated in this
strategy is the initiative to select the best area and type
of large scale port to be built in the central region of
the country, a project that will be informed by the
end of 2013 when the second part of the national
strategy is published, states the communication
According to Mundo Marítimo, the Chilean
company SAAM, altogether with the Colombian
companies Abonos Colombianos S.A. (Abocol) and
Compas, announced in January the formation of an
association for the commercial exploitation of the
Port of Buenavista, and also to develop an integral,
large scale logistics center, both located in Cartagena
de Indias, Colombia, in the sector of Mamonal. The
company estimates investments of approximately
US$45 million in its first stage.
Puerto Buenavista S.A. owns the concession of the
port of the same name that currently has a dock of
211 meters, which infrastructure will be improved
and the corresponding equipment provided with the
purpose of potentiating and developing it according
to market requirement characteristics. In addition, the
company has acquired a nearby lot of approximately
41 hectares within the industrial quarter of Cartagena
that will be destined to the development of an
integral logistics center that, among other services,
will have warehouses and a distribution center; an
area for the consolidation and deconsolidation of
cargo; a yard for full and empty containers; a storage
area for ro-ro and general cargo, besides extensive
areas to install industries related to foreign trade
activities.
Abocol is a company dedicated to the production
and commercialization of fertilizers for agriculture
and is present in seven countries of Latin America.
Among its products is nitric acid, ammonia nitrate,
calcium nitrate, and also composed fertilizers, as
the case of NPK. Compas is a recently created
company, product of the merger of port assets of
the Argos Group, the largest cement company of
Colombia, and Muelles El Bosque, company of the
Echavarría Obregón family and the Spanish group
Ership, owners until now of Muelles El Bosque.
The new firm will have seven port terminals: four
on the Atlantic, two on the Pacific and one on the
Magdalena River.

Enero - Marzo 2013
SAAM is a company focused to provide logistics
services, tugboats services, where it is one of the
main operators worldwide, and operates port
terminals, being the second largest Latin American
operator.
According to information of the economic
newspaper La República, the Group Port of
Cartagena, through its sea terminals Manga and
Contecar, reached the record figure of 2,018,389
containers transported by the end of 2012, which
becomes a historical figure in Colombia and
positions it as the first in the country to achieve such
advance.
to the month of June of this year, considering they
have advanced in the first phase of the road to the
Peninsula of Aguadulce in Colombia, where the sea
terminal will be built.
“The first phase of the access road has been done
with a total extension of 21 kilometers, work being
built by Sociedad Puerto Industrial Aguadulce, but
based on the designs and supervision of the Instituto
Nacional de Vías, Invías, product of an agreement
with them”, stated Miguel Abisambra, company
manager, affiliate of International Container
Terminal Services Incorporated, ICTSI. The road
where more than US$60 million will be invested
shall become a national road upon its termination,
product of this agreement.
In its first phase, the port will transport more than
400,000 containers, its specialty, to be done through
a dock 600 meters long, initially, and further on will
reach 900 meters. Another 250 meter long dock will
also be built to handle bulk and coal, thus enabling
to operate more than 2 million tons of each of
these cargoes. “Works as such in the sea terminal
shall start prior to the end of this semester, and
access road works will continue at the same time,
as well as dredging the approach to 14.5 meters”,
said Abisambra. It is estimated that this port will
be in operation by mid-2015, but the road must be
concluded by mid-next year.
According to an article of Mundo Marítimo, taken
from El País, the port project of Aguadulce, one
of the oldest in Buenaventura, begins to take shape.
Directors expect that its construction will begin prior
Cartagena Exceeded 2 Million TEUs in 2012`
Port of Aguadulce in Buenaventura Would Start
Construction in 2013
Port of Mariel Expecting End of Embargo
Colombia
Cuba

Enero - Marzo 2013
World sea transportation is changing, and Cuba,
located in a strategic communication route is
anxious to obtain the economic advantages
that may offer the port of Mariel, according to
Christopher P. Baker, author of the blog Moons
Travel Guide, specialized in Cuban and Costa Rican
matters, quoted by Mundo Marítimo that gathered
information from Martí Noticias. The immediate
problem is that current economic sanctions establish
that any ship arriving to a Cuban port must have to
wait 180 days to enter the United States. However,
while this measure is in force, the interest of making
of the Port of Mariel a huge storage and handling
center for regional sea cargo depends of the political
rapprochement between Washington and Havana.
Baker emphasizes that the expansion of the port is
directly related to the modernization of the Panama
Canal that for 2015 will allow traffic through its locks
of cargo ships transporting up to 12,000 containers,
a figure three times greater than current one. To
receive these deep draft mega-cargo ships that will
cross in both directions the Pacific, the Atlantic and
the Caribbean, the extensions of the Port of Mariel
are being built. Engineering works are in charge of
the Brazilian giant Odebretch in association with the
Construction Company of the Armed Forces of
Cuba, and when the extension works are finished,
the Port of Mariel will be capable of handling
one million containers a year; and its draft will be
capable of receiving the mega-cargo ships crossing
the Panama Canal. The Government of Brazil
is supporting the project with a line of credit to
Cuba of one million dollars. Besides, last month of
November, three Brazilian companies, among them
Marco Polo, the largest builder of bodies for buses,
committed to open production plants within the
area of economic development linked to the port of
Mariel.
The Chinese company PSA International, based
in Singapore, the same that operates Panamanian
ports, will be in charge of the administration of the
Port of Mariel, qualified as the largest and most
modern facility of the Caribbean, states Baker. Cuba
wishes that its modern port facilities will serve sea
transit of imports and exports of goods from the
entire region, including U.S. ports, but for the time
being and while the embargo of the United States
to Cuba is in force, the millionaire investments for
the expansion of the Port of Mariel will not give the
results their sponsors expect, states Baker.
According to Mundo Marítimo, quoting Gramma
of Cuba and The Nuevo Herald of Miami, the
extension of Mariel, located about 45 kilometers
west of Havana, is the most important investment
currently being developed in the island, amounting
to approximately US$900 million, of this US$640
correspond to a credit from Brazil. The execution
of works is developed through the International
Economic Association, formed by the Cuban
construction company Quality and the Brazilian
company COI.
This Project is the beginning of the first Special
Development Zone of the country and its extension
involves about 465 square kilometers. It includes
a containers terminal that will be the center of the
future Special Development Zone of Mariel and
that will be connected to different development areas
and industries of the zone, all this by means of a

Enero - Marzo 2013
high performance road, railway and communications
infrastructure.
After an extensive presentation of proposals
for the construction of the new Containers
and General Cargo Terminal of the National
Port Company (ENP) of the Port of Cortés,
International Container Terminal Services Inc.
(ICTSI) was the winning company to carry out
these works, as informed by Mundo Marítimo.
The other competitor was the Consortium Grupo
Marítimo TCB, S.L./Bolloré Africa Logistics. The
Commissioner of Coalianza and President of the
Technical Committee, José Antonio Pineda, assured
that “with the award of this contract starts the most
important transformation project for the economic
reactivation of the National Port Company (ENP)
of the Port of Cortés and its areas of influence that
will benefit of best quality employment sources,
development and progress”. As explained by Pineda,
the awardee commits to modernize docks, extend
berthing lines for ships and build a containers
terminal. It also assumes the commitment of
introducing the necessary equipment to serve ships,
which includes 11 mobile cranes for cargo. Although
there is not an exact date to start works, the contract
foresees that the concessionaire has a period of six
months to obtain resources, which is due in August
of this year.
According to the conditions established in the
contract, the awardee must make an investment
for the first concession of approximately US$500
million (of a total of US$624 million), with which
The government of President Mauricio Funes is in
its final period and the Port of La Unión continues
without being concessioned, despite more than one
year ago the long expected Law of Concessions was
approved by the Legislative Assembly. All points
out that 2013 will be another year of waiting, as,
according to the head of the Autonomous Port
Executive Commission (CEPA), Alberto Arene,
bases of the tender will be published until April,
but then there will be at least six months for the
interested companies to present their offers, thus
the concession may only be granted in September,
but if there is no declaration of void tender or any
appeal from any of the participants. But this is not
all. CEPA will have to wait another three months to
deliver the project to the company being awarded
the tender, as informed by Arene last year. Besides,
Arene has left for last the rounds of visits to possible
investors, as only until November of last year was
decided to start tours to various countries of Asia
and America offering the advantages of the sea
terminal and “expanding its vision”.
Bases for the Tender of Port La Unión will be
published next April
ICTSI will Build and Operate New Terminal in
Puerto Cortés``
El Salvador
Honduras

Enero - Marzo 2013
Construction starts in October
Tender for the First Phase of the Extension of
the Port of Guaymas will be opened in March
the infrastructure, equipment and port logistics will
be modernized, as the mechanism to guarantee
sustainability and recover the first place of the
market of terminals of the region. The infrastructure
ENP-Puerto Cortés will continue being the property
of the state of Honduras, and the concessionaries
will have the obligation to build, equip, finance,
maintain and operate the containers terminal of
the port, complying with the highest international
standards. Located approximately 200 kilometers in
the northern part of Honduras, Puerto Cortés is the
point of entry and exit of approximately 80% of the
foreign trade of Honduras.
International Container Terminal Services Inc
(ICTSI) is a Philippine company specialized in the
operation of containers terminals operating 24
terminals in 18 countries, among which are several
Latin American countries.
At the latest in October of this year will start the
construction and equipping of the containers
terminal of the Port of Cortés in Honduras, as
assured by the executives of the Philippine firm,
International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI).
“We are looking for results shortly. According to
the Schedule of activities we will start operation and
construction of what has to be done to improve
the infrastructure as of October of this year”,
stated Juan Carlos Garrido, director of Business
Development for the Americas of ICTSI. The
executive showed as example the operations the
company is developing in the Port of Guayaquil,
Ecuador, where service yields and improvements
were accomplished in a five-year term.
The confirmation of starting works was done after
a meeting of the authorities of the Commission
for the Promotion of Public-Private Alliances (Co-
Alliance) and executives of ICTSI, the company
winner of the tender, with entrepreneurs from the
north zone in order to socialize on the development
of the process of the tender and its award, and the
benefits this concession will bring to Honduras.
Tender for the first stage of the project for extension
of the Port of Guaymas will be called in March,
stated to BNamericas the general director of the
port authority, José Luis Castro. “We already have an
approved master program, the executive project is
in process, and environmental procedures are also in
process, and we expect for the beginning of March
the dredging tender for the first stage”, stated Castro.
The port, located in the northern state of Sonora,
Gulf of California, will be developed in two
stages, of which the first one involves the dredging
México

Enero - Marzo 2013
Construction of a new cargo railroad station
appraised in US$30.3 million in the capital of the
Mexican state of Durango will be completed prior to
the end of the first quarter of the year, and initiation
of works for a new railway bypass will be launched
amounting to US$40 million that will go by next
to the state capital, as stated to BNamericas by the
governor of the state, Jorge Herrera. The project,
started in July 2012, includes the construction of 23
kilometers of railway, administrative buildings, and
storage and yard facilities. The station is located at a
new logistics center being currently built facing the
international cargo airport, which will benefit of the
connectivity with the Durango-Mazatlán road.
The government is developing the electrical, gas
and potable water facilities and a treatment plant
for waste water in the logistics center of the 1,600
hectares “so companies may arrive and immediately
install themselves”, stated Herrera. The new railway
and construction of 10 terminals for an amount
of US$567 million. According to port director,
approximately US$173 million will be invested in
dredging and basic infrastructure for common areas,
while the remaining US$394 million will be disbursed
by private companies obtaining concessions and
to be spent in docks and furnishings. The largest
dredging companies of the world – Royal Boskalis
Westminster, Dragamex, Van Oord, Jan De Nul
and Dredging International – have expressed their
interest in the tender, stated Castro.
Upon completion of works, facilities will have a
capacity of 30 million tons per year, compared
to current 7 million. The first dredging phase will
conclude in 15 months, and the award of the project
and starting of construction are forecast for the
first semester of the year. The second phase of
expansion will involve the construction of a new
containers terminal and a multipurpose terminal,
with a dock 600 meters long. The extension of the
port is necessary to meet the ever increasing demand
to handle containers cargo, besides the traditional
markets of the port for agriculture and mineral
cargo. The strong demand of imports and exports to
the center and east of the United States, particularly
to and from Arizona, is also a key promoter for
forecast growth, declared the head of the authority.
Once the initiative has been completed, the Port
of Guaymas will deliver a “viable alternative, a
substitute” to the failed port Project of Punta
Colonet (proposed by previous administration as a
frontier port between the United States and Mexico),
added Castro, who concluded telling that although
the terminal of Guaymas will not serve the ports of
Long Beach or Los Angeles (as was the intention
of Puerto Colonet) “we are practically an American
port with Mexican prices”.
Construction of Railway Terminal in Durango
is completed

Enero - Marzo 2013
pole “will strengthen Durango as a logistics world
class hub”, he added.
Construction of the Durango-Mazatlán road, valued
in US$2,000 million that will become the first inter-
coastal road built in Mexico, will be completed the
second semester of this year, stated the governor.
This super road is 230 kilometers long and has two
lanes that will allow circulating at 110 km per hour,
and is part of the axis road Mazatlán-Matamoros in
the Atlantic, for a total of 1,241 kilometers. Works
will reduce cargo transportation time between the
Atlantic port of Mazatlán and Durango in two and a
half hours.
According to the report of Mundo Marítimo, taken
from La Estrella of Panama, upon termination of
the extension Project of the Panama Canal there
will be a bottleneck because of the increase in
the capacity of the logistics sector of the country,
thus services will be required to assist in satisfying
The Panama Canal manages other logistics
businesses to prevent bottleneck
future demand. The direct economic impact of this
extension may be of approximately 5% of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), but other contributions
(16%) will come from other activities according to
studies developed by the Panama Canal Authority
(ACP, in Spanish). In the meantime, the ACP has
started looking for solutions to optimize the sector.
Rodolfo Sabonge, Strategic Planning Vice-president
of the ACP confirmed the analysis is being done to
develop businesses in addition to the transit of ships.
For this, the ACP engaged the consulting firm HRD
to develop the viability studies for eight projects,
including terminals for the supply of liquefied
natural gas (LNG), distribution of automobiles and
bunkering, a logistics park, a top-off operations
center, another for ship repairs, a water rail and
the port of Corozal, the latter the best known of
all. “The first element showing us we now are in
full capacity is that ports grew only 3% because of
lack of capacity and not lack of demand,” stated
Sabonge. He mentioned that the ACP is assuming
the leadership in this matter, but it must not be
necessarily developed only by them. What is sought
is that it is done because in this way the Canal adds
value to the route. “We now see that our logistics
system has lots of potholes”, he said.
77% of containerships transiting the interoceanic
route arrive to Panamanian ports, and thus, there is a
close relation between transit and transshipment. The
shipper transits through the Canal, unloads cargo
and also picks up cargo, which adds value as it will
charge freights, and does not leave empty, explained
the official. “We are interested in the existence of
services complementary to the extension”, stated
Sabonge. Studies will be ready in six months and it
will be the board of directors of ACP that makes
this decision. For the time being, more than US$1.2
million have been invested. These projects will have
a positive impact in the growth of economy and
Panamá

Enero - Marzo 2013
employment generation.
The water rail will be a service of barges transporting
containers. These will be moved from places
where existing railroad has no access, as ports to be
developed in the west bank of the Canal. They will
pass by current locks – which capacity will be inactive
– as it is foreseen that most part of traffic will pass
through the new locks. Another study establishes the
creation of a ship repair, post-panamax type terminal
that will transit by this route, as in the area there are
no dikes sufficiently big to provide services to them.
The ro-ro or automobile distribution terminal will
receive crude vehicles and tires, leather seats and
other accessories will be installed there. This may
be located in the old shooting polygons that were
decontaminated.
The most advanced studies are those for the port
of Corozal. In April the final viability report may
be ready to be presented to the board of directors
that will decide if construction proceeds or not.
Further on, funding will be determined. At this
time simulation studies are being done in view of
the closeness of the port to the new locks and
a present task is to demonstrate if there are any
risks, considering traffic and 20-year demand.
Study costs US$200,000 and feasibility study US$1
million. To build the sea terminal 118 hectares of
the government and other 75 ha of the ACP will be
used.
Rubén Lachman, of the company Intracorp,
reiterated that the core of Panamanian economy
is the interoceanic route. Its company developed
in 2006 the first economic impact study of the
extension. The economist stated as good the ACP
initiative to be leader in this matter. “Many activities
developed in the country are based on the Canal, as
the Free Zone of Colon, commercial activities, ports
and the banking center”, he stated.
The projects
Enero - Marzo 2013
I am happy to verify that the annual event
of Latinports in Valparaíso was a complete
success.
Richard Klien
Chairman, Executive Committee of
Latinports
Brasil
Very good the Declaration of Valparaíso
Marcelo Araújo
President
Libra Group
Brazil
Mail

Enero - Marzo 2013
I found pertinent, objective and concrete the
conclusion on Multimodality and Logistics of the
Declaration of Valparaíso.
Miguel Ángel Yáñez
General Manager
Intermodal Logistics Terminal of
Hidalgo, Mexico
A member of the Hutchison Port Holdings Group
I found the Declaration of Valparaíso very good
and clear
Harald Jaeger
General Manager
Empresa Portuaria Valparaíso
Chile
Congratulations on the event held in Valparaíso.
Celso Camargo
Port of New Orleans South America
Office in Brazil
Le agradezco me haya enviado el boletín
informativo el cual es muy informativo. Me he
tomado la libertad de enviarlo a mis colegas en
Latinoamérica.
Diego F. Quiroga
Principal Engineer, Maritime and Ports
URS Infrastructure & Environment UK
Limited
Basingstoke, United Kingdom
Very complete newsletter
rturo López
Chairman Elect of Latinports
Mexico
`Thanks for the article (on the reactivation of the
Magdalena River navigation) published in the
magazine of National Association of Producers
of Concrete. I believe beyond doubt that we will
have a project ready this year for the reactivation
of the Magdalena.
Augusto García
General Director
Cormagdalena
Bogotá, Colombia

Enero - Marzo 2013
LATIN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PORTS AND TERMINALS
LATINPORTS
MEMBERSHIP FORM
CORPORATE MEMBER (Latin American Port or Terminal): ___
SUSTAINING MEMBER (Companies related to the port industry or ports
and terminals from other regions of the world): ___
Company:
Address:
City, Country:
Telephone:
Website:
Legal Representative (Contact Person):
Position:
E-mail:
Brief Description of the Company:
As corporate (sustaining) member we agree to pay the annual dues of
US$2,500 (US$850) within 30 days following presentation of the invoice.
SIGNED:
NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON
FILLING OUT THE FORM:
DATE:
Please return this form filled out to jpalacio@latinports.org

Latinports Newsletter January-March 2013

Latinports Newsletter January-March 2013

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Similaire à Latinports Newsletter January-March 2013

Similaire à Latinports Newsletter January-March 2013 (20)

Plus de latinports

Plus de latinports (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Latinports Newsletter January-March 2013