DP World has officially requested permission to renew the terminal concessions the company operates in the Port of Buenos Aires. Currently, it operates in terminals 1, 2 and 3, which have a combined area of 430,000 square metres. These were acquired from P&O Ports almost a decade ago.
The request was made by Dubai’s Economy Minister Sultan Bin Saeed Almansoori to the Argentinian vice president Gabriela Michetti.
DP World plans to invest $200m in the three Buenos Aires terminals, whose concessions are due to expire in 2019. Nevertheless, Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, was to bring the renewal date forward to 2017 as a means of driving investment.
According to Ms Michetti, the concession renewal will be made by open tender, with no preferential treatment given to incumbents. She added that a possible option would be to allow DP World to continue with the investment and, at worse, leave it as a sub-contractor for the future concessionaire.
DP World Buenos Aires has invested $250m in the last 20 years and currently operates the Terminales Rio de la Plata box handling facility, with an annual throughput of 600,000 teu.
