This will be the imposing megaport of Chancay in Peru that can revolutionize trade in South America

( Spanish) – A Peruvian port will become the largest on the South Pacific coast and could revolutionize trade in South America. It is the Chancay megaport, built by the company Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Perú.

The Chinese ambassador to Peru, Liang Yu, said that the maritime base could become the Shanghai of South America, the newspaper La República reported in June 2022. It is so important that it is expected to be inaugurated in November by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the APEC summit, which will be held in Lima.

The port terminal is located 80 km north of the city of Lima and was conceived in 2007 by the deceased Peruvian ex-mariner Juan Ribaudo De La Torre, who owned the land where the port is built, according to an article on the Lampadia site. com.

The project belongs 60% to Cosco Shipping Ports Limited, a Chinese company and one of the largest shipping conglomerates in the world, whose majority shareholder is the Chinese State. The other 40% is from the Peruvian Inversiones Portuarias Chancay.

This is how its operations will be:

The megaport – with an investment of US$ 1.3 billion – has one of the most modern technologies in the world. Its construction is so imposing that it can only be seen from above.

Chancay will reduce the transportation time of merchandise sent to Asia by almost half and, once it is inaugurated, it will begin to move a part of the gigantic volume of cargo that travels through ports around the world.

A visit by to the site revealed the protagonists of the work: the gantry cranes, almost 90 meters long, will move the containers from the ships to a large patio on the dock. Almost everything will work autonomously 24 hours a day.

The project has three components: an entrance complex, a tunnel under the city and the operational dock area. The port has been conceived with the highest standards of sustainability and global productivity, Carlos Tejada, deputy general manager of Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Peru, told .

The port, according to the former sailor, operates uninterruptedly, without shift changes and has greater efficiency, increasing productivity by 50%. “Global ports, the most efficient globally, are at an average of 30 containers per hour/crane, here we can reach up to 50, and there is also a reduction in energy consumption that impacts the cost of freight, which is The goal is to ensure that the ship that arrives stays as short as possible and can continue its route,” he explained.

Chancay works completely electric, carbon-free and has autonomous vehicles in the first stage, since this type of equipment reduces energy consumption by 40% compared to other ports.

As if that were not enough, all cargo that enters the terminal to be exported will pass through scanners that were provided by United States customs.

According to Tejada, Chancay is designed to withstand an 8.5 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

With a depth of no less than 17.8 meters, the terminal will allow the operation of the largest ships in the world and will reduce the arrival of goods to the Asian continent by half the time.

According to Carlos Tejada, Chancay will receive the largest ships in the world.

While most cargo from Pacific coast countries transship in North America primarily in Manzanillo, Colima, and eventually Long Beach, California, making the average cargo transportation time to Asia 40 days, Cosco will have direct routes from Chancay to Shanghai that will fluctuate between 21 and 23 days, according to Tejada.

According to the company’s projections, the ports in Colima and California would suffer an impact on the volume of cargo they receive because, currently, exports and imports from the South American Pacific coast to or from Asia must transship in those places. .

Once completed, the work would cause an important change in maritime transport routes in the Pacific towards Asia and Oceania, since in theory it would allow Ecuador, Colombia and Chile to transfer their goods to China from Peru without other stops.

The megaport marks an important milestone in the presence and influence of China in Peru and Latin America, which has raised alarm bells among US authorities due to the increase in the presence of Chinese capital in the region.

Chancay is expected to begin commercial operations in early 2025, Tejada told .

With information from Jimena De La Quintana.