At present in the country’s nine port clusters, there are 21 concessions requests under consideration and further 80 concessions already active.
The move, which will impact private requests, was introduced by Transport Minister Natalia Abello Vives.
Under the new system, only a single hearing is required to enable the concession to be considered.
To date, $1.645bn has been invested by concessionaires in ports at Buenaventura, Cartagena, Santa Marta – Ciénaga, La Guajira, the Gulf of Morrosquillo, Tumaco, Turbo – Urabá, San Andrés and Barranquilla.
The Ministry of Transport had earlier revealed that the various concessions under consideration would add further capacity of at least 50.94m tons. Cartagena, with nine projects, heads the development list, followed by Buenaventura, with five terminals. At Nariño and in the Gulf of Morrosquillo a further two projects were being reviewed, with others said to be at Chocó, Guajira, Coveñas and Turbo.
Major oil terminals are planned at both Cartagena and Buenaventura, while in Nariño province close to the Ecuador border the focus is on building new cargo installations at Tumaco. La Guajira has put forward plans for new coal export facilities.