UAE-based DP World has won a 50-year concession for the development of a greenfield multi-purpose port project at Posorja, Ecuador. The total investment will be over $1 billion for the entire project.

The project will be set up 65 km from the country’s main business city of Guayaquil, said a statement from DP World.

The project’s initial investment (for Phase 1) of $500 million will include the purchase of land, dredging of a new access channel, a 20-km access road and a 400-m berth equipped to handle containers and other cargo, it said.

Construction is expected to start within the next six to nine months and take around 24 months to complete, resulting in 750,000 TEU (twenty-foot container equivalent) of capacity, it added.

The concession agreement was signed by Jorge Glass, Vice President of Ecuador; Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador; Isabel Noboa, chairwoman of Consorcio Nobis, and  Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP World Group chairman and CEO.

The project will provide thousands of jobs during construction, and close to 1,000 jobs during operations, along with plans to develop a logistics zone to create a regional trading hub. It will focus on containers with the capability to handle other types of cargo and will be implemented with DP World’s local partners, Consorcio Nobis and Grupo Vilaseca.  

Posorja Port will complement DP World’s extensive network in South America by creating a new deep-water gateway for Ecuador’s global trade with a range of benefits that include:  

•Access to a 15 m draft compared to the current 9.75 m drafts at the existing Guayaquil ports.
•Additional capacity for the Guayaquil terminals which last year recorded throughput of over 1.75 million TEU close to their existing limits.
•Innovative solutions for the world’s largest banana exporting country enabling access to global markets.
•Long-term expansion potential with up to about 2,000 m of berth and over 200 hectares of terminal area.

Bin Sulayem said: “We are delighted to extend our South American footprint with a major investment in Ecuador. The additional value it will bring to the economy is compelling, increasing competitiveness through the provision of modern container terminal services in central Ecuador.”

“Posorja will contribute to our continued growth in the developing markets of South America in the years ahead. This investment builds on our existing network in the region, with terminals in Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Suriname,” he said.

“We look forward to bringing our world class productivity-enhancing, security, safety and environmental best practices in container terminal development and operation to Ecuador,” he added.

Roberto Dunn, executive director, Consorcio Nobis, said: “We are excited to partner with DP World and Grupo Vilaseca on this landmark project.”

“DP World Posorja will offer Ecuadorean importers and exporters a unique deep-water alternative that will dramatically improve the competitiveness of their products in world markets and has the potential to transform the Ecuadorean economy,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service