After the start of operations in the port of Chancay, north of Lima, which opened at the end of 2024 and is managed by the Chinese group COSCO Shipping Ports ( of 15 November 2024), Peru is planning a second port intended to accommodate large ships active on the routes between South America and Asia. This is the port of Corío, which will be built in Punta de Bombón, in the province of Islay (Arequipa region), on the southern coast of the country.

The masterplan of the new port of call has been approved on 3 September by the National Port Authority and yesterday the state investment agency Proinversión and the regional government have signed an agreement to present the project to domestic and foreign investors. The investment estimated total is $844.48 million, divided into in three phases. The first provides for an expenditure of 652.0 million for the construction of a 2.5-kilometre breakwater, a pier 350 linear meters for dry bulk, a multipurpose pier and of ten 10 silos. A further investment of 109.2 million will be intended to build a second berth for bulk, new silos and warehouses and a railway connection. Finally, another 83.25 million will be used to build a third specialized and for the execution of other works and the purchase of equipment.

The masterplan describes a new terminal designed especially for "clean" dry bulk cargo, such as cereals and soybeans, which will also be able to handle various goods and containers. The bulk dock will be able to receive ships up to 200,000 deadweight tons, the one for miscellaneous goods up to to 80,000 dwt, with natural seabeds whose depth exceeds -20 meters.

According to forecasts, the annual traffic capacity it will rise from 9.3 million tons in the first phase to 18.7 million tons in the second and 27.5 million in the third phase. The start of the the last two phases, however, will depend on the fulfilment of the optimistic scenario of demand, with the second phase which, for example, example, it will be triggered when the bulk exceeds five million tons per year. Thirty-year forecasts are conservative, and the optimistic scenario estimates 19.1 million tonnes of bulk and about 908 thousand tons of miscellaneous goods. For the Bulk cargo, the moderate scenario stops at 4.3 million tons of bulk and for various goods to 204 thousand tons. The masterplan acknowledges that the first phase is nevertheless sufficient to cover the scenario pessimistic and moderate throughout the period.

With the new port we intend to respond first and foremost to a internal imbalance. In 2025, the Peruvian port system handled about 132 million tons, of which more than 60% in the central area of the country. The ports of the south, of Matarani and Ilo, are mainly dedicated to mining products and are not sized for large grain flows. With the new port of Corío, in addition to a rebalancing of national flows of goods moved by sea, we also look at exported goods from Brazil. In particular, the masterplan indicates as a basin indirect the Brazilian states of Acre, Rondônia and Mato Grosso, connected to the coast by the Carretera Interoceánica Sur. The goal is to get soybeans and corn out of the Pacific Brazilians heading to Asia, avoiding the Panama Canal and the Atlantic. In the longer term, there is also the hypothesis of a rail link with Brazil.

The regional governor of Arequipa, Rohel Sánchez Sánchez, announced that for the construction and management of the newport investors from the United States, China and India.