SOUTH AMERICA

Ecuador abolishes existing port authorities

12 years ago

A decree passed by Ecuadors president, Rafael Correa, has abolished the port authorities of Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, Manta and Puerto Bolívar. These will be administered directly by the Ministry of Transport & Public Works instead. The move was justified as a need to end inter-port rivalries.

The post of under-secretary for ports is to be created and four port managers appointed. Henceforth, all port policy will be the remit of the Ministry.

At the same time, an analysis is to be made on the establishment of a possible public ports company, which would be set up along commercial grounds to coordinate actions between the ports, but not allow competition between them.

In future, each of the ports will specialise, thereby avoiding the current rivalry that has broken out between Manta and Guayaquil, particularly in respect of containers.

However, Jaime Nebot, the mayor of Guayaquil, has questioned the presidential decree, believing that the government has set out to ‘asphyxiate’ development of his port.

“The government owns land adjacent to the maritime port, which is needed for the expansion of the existing port. However, it wants to use this for different purposes as a means of stifling development of the Port of Guayaquil,” he said.