Recently, the government of Guayaquil has signed a 25-year concession agreement with Luxembourg-based Jan De Nul Group to carry out dredging works.
With dredging works expected to be completed within the first year of the concession, mega ships will be able to enter Guayaquil port on new draft of 12.5 meters at high tide and 7.5 metres at the Guayas River. The ‘Los Goles’, a rock causing a bottleneck in the offshore section of the channel, will also be removed.
Read more: Jan de Nul wins Port of Guayaquil dredging contract
Jose Antonio Contreras, ceo of Contecon Guayaquil SA (CGSA), the Ecuadorian subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), said the dredging of the channel will further boost the terminal’s operational capabilities, being the only port in Ecuador capable of berthing two post-panamax vessels simultaneously.
“CGSA should be able to strengthen its position as the country’s preferred port of call in the Pacific coast that has a deeper access channel, allowing the entry of the world’s largest box ships. We look forward to the arrival of neo-Panamax box ships since the terminal is ready to handle these new generation vessels,” he said.
CGSA is ICTSI’s largest port concession in Latin America with a handling capacity of up to 1.4m teu annually.
More than 12m tonnes of products, or nearly 85% of goods imported and exported from Ecuador pass through the port of Guayaquil, it being in close proximity to export zones and agricultural areas.
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