CONTECON Guayaquil SA (CGSA), the Ecuadorian subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI), has lauded the decision by the Guayaquil government to dredge and maintain the 95-kilometre main access channel leading to the port of Guayaquil.
Through an international tender, the Technical Commission of the municipality of Guayaquil awarded a 25-year concession to Luxembourg-based Jan De Nul Group, which will undertake the project.
Once the dredging works are completed within the first year of the concession, mega containerships will be able to enter the port even with a 12.5-metre draft at high tide, a significant improvement on the present access channel depth of 9.6 metres.
CGSA chief executive officer Jose Antonio Contreras said: 'This landmark undertaking of the Guayaquil municipality to dredge and maintain the main access channel - the first in 60 years - is truly laudable. It will help ensure the progress not only of Guayaquil, whose ports will be directly benefited, but of the entire Ecuador.'
He added: 'We can now look forward to the arrival of neopanamax box ships since the terminal is ready to handle these new generation vessels.'
CGSA has received the government's nod to simultaneously handle larger vessels at its berths two and three. This follows the inauguration of the terminal's expanded logistics support area, capable of handling 6,000 reefer containers per month. Currently, the terminal has an annual container handling capacity of 1.4 million TEU.
Eighty-five per cent of goods imported and exported from the country pass through the port of Guayaquil given its close proximity to export zones and agricultural areas.
Through an international tender, the Technical Commission of the municipality of Guayaquil awarded a 25-year concession to Luxembourg-based Jan De Nul Group, which will undertake the project.
Once the dredging works are completed within the first year of the concession, mega containerships will be able to enter the port even with a 12.5-metre draft at high tide, a significant improvement on the present access channel depth of 9.6 metres.
CGSA chief executive officer Jose Antonio Contreras said: 'This landmark undertaking of the Guayaquil municipality to dredge and maintain the main access channel - the first in 60 years - is truly laudable. It will help ensure the progress not only of Guayaquil, whose ports will be directly benefited, but of the entire Ecuador.'
He added: 'We can now look forward to the arrival of neopanamax box ships since the terminal is ready to handle these new generation vessels.'
CGSA has received the government's nod to simultaneously handle larger vessels at its berths two and three. This follows the inauguration of the terminal's expanded logistics support area, capable of handling 6,000 reefer containers per month. Currently, the terminal has an annual container handling capacity of 1.4 million TEU.
Eighty-five per cent of goods imported and exported from the country pass through the port of Guayaquil given its close proximity to export zones and agricultural areas.