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