Manta port concessionaire to invest at least US$20mn -
Ecuador
Monday, May 06, 2002 18:55 (GMT-0300) The private concessionaire
that takes over Manta port in Ecuador will have to invest at least
US$20mn over five years in the terminal, port manager Pablo Rosero
told BNamericas.
Economic and financial feasibility studies are due to be concluded
by the end of May, he said, after which a 30-40 day road show
will be held to promote the concession. This will visit Chilean
capital Santiago, Miami, London and other European cities, targeting
major shipping companies.
At present, port services are contracted out to third parties,
but the plan is to hand over management and installations to a
single concessionaire. The concessionaire would retain the right
to subcontract services. The length of the concession has not
yet been determined, but it could be 20, 25 or 30 years, Rosero
said.
Manta, 390km from capital Quito, has an international dock with
800m of berths and a depth of 12m, and a national cargo dock with
1,000m of berths and a depth of 7-8m. It also has 20ha of storage
space.
The state port authority invoices around US$5mn/y, with third
party service contractors taking an additional US$5mn. It is estimated
that for 2002 the port will transfer 500,000-700,000t/y of bulk
cargo (oils, fuel and wheat), 20,000-30,000t/y of containerized
cargo and 30,000-40,000 vehicles. It is also estimated that 200,000t/y
of tuna fish will be handled at the port.
Rosero said the investment requirements would mean negative cash
flow for the concessionaire during the first years of the concession,
but authorities are looking into ways to compensate for this,
including lengthening the concession period.
The fees to be paid to the state port authority by the concessionaire
will be flexible and depend on the investments to be carried out
and the amount of cargo transferred.
"The whole process of awarding the concession for the port
of Manta is less advanced than other ports [in Ecuador]. Esmeraldas
is at the pre-qualification phase and Bolivar started its promotional
phase last Friday," he said. "We are looking into those
processes so as to avoid committing the same mistakes, and take
the better aspects of them."
Manta is the only open sea port in Ecuador, he said, and is just
150km from the country's largest port of Guayaquil, which has
sedimentation problems. "So, besides being mostly focused
on the bulk cargo area and the tuna fish industry, our objective
is to stimulate the concessionaire to sooner or later attract
cargo from Guayaquil, which at some point will run into problems,"
Rosero said.
By Ricardo Raboy
(Business News Americas)
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