ADDENDUM TO THE MUELLE NORTE CONCESSION WOULD ALLOW INVESTMENT OF US$ 1,050 MILLION FROM APMT.
Lima, May 11, 2021.- The National Port Authority (APN) gave a favorable opinion to the addendum proposed by APM Terminals Callao (APMT) to redesign the following phases of the modernization project of the Callao Multipurpose North Terminal, pending now to receive opinions from Ositran, the MEF and the Comptroller's Office, for its approval by the MTC.
In this regard, the concessionaire of this infrastructure, also known as Muelle Norte, announced that it could invest US$ 1,050 million in this redesign, that is, an additional US$ 346 million (or 46% more) with respect to the US$ 746 million originally contemplated in its concession contract, according to the 2021 Business Plan that it submitted to Ositran.
Regarding this, Fernando Fauche, commercial director of APM Terminals Callao, explained to Gestión that the addendum does not consider an extension of years of the concession contract, nor a reduction in the number of mandatory stages, nor does it reduce the investment budgets of the same.
On the other hand, he confirmed, additional investments are proposed for bulk cargo.
Capacity
In this sense, he specified that the redesign will allow the concessionaire to increase its capacity to handle general cargo (non-containerized) to move up to 15.5 million tons (from the 7 million tons it currently moves); that is, a growth of 121%.
It is worth remembering that APMT has already completed the first two phases of the project, with an investment of more than US$ 495 million, and for the following stages, the original design (proposed by the Government), particularly contemplates facilities and equipment to move containerized cargo.
“Not optimizing the port design would generate negative impacts on the logistics chain and foreign trade”, said Fauche.
Ositran proposes a 1.5% increase in port service provision tariffs
Ositran proposed an increase of 1.56% in the tariffs for regulated services at the Multipurpose North Terminal of the port of Callao for the period from July 1 to June 30, 2026.
However, Fernando Fauche, commercial director of APM Terminals Callao, indicated to this newspaper that the referred company maintains rates below the maximum amounts approved (in previous tariff revisions) by Ositran for most of the regulated services: between 5% and 21% less, according to the type of cargo.
“In order to accompany the growth of the country, during the last years, APM Terminals Callao has been the only one in the port sector not to charge the maximum rates authorized for such services, despite the investments and improvements made in the port terminal”, said Fauche.