A study undertaken by the Chilean construction association Cámara Chilena de la Construcción (CchC) has found that the Port of San Antonio is handling 18.5m tonnes annually, close to the engineering capacity of the existing infrastructure.
CchC’s regional director, Juan Armando Vicuña, said that the sooner work begins on the new Deep Water Port, the easier it will be for current infrastructure to avoid reaching saturation point.
According to the study, between now and 2027, around $5bn will have to be invested in the Chilean port industry and more than half of this will be needed to cover storage and transfer capacity at existing terminals.
San Antonio’s provincial governor, Gabriela Alcalde, said existing poor port connections are resulting in a large numbers of road accidents, suggesting that the sooner work begins on the new port the better.
In contrast, Puerto Central said that the number of containers it handles has remain steady and therefore it doesn’t see any urgency in building the new port.
