News / Peru's new Chancay Port set to open to box line services next month

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The new Chancay Port in Peru is set to begin receiving its first regular container calls as early as next month, following the terminal’s scheduled “soft” launch.

The newly built port, 60% controlled by Chinese state-owned shipping giant Cosco and 40% owned by local mining firm Volcan, is set to begin a six-month ramp phase following its official inauguration in November.

According to local reports, Cosco Shipping Chancay Peru general manager Carlos Tejeda said, on the sidelines of a business conference in Lima, that the port would service “two vessels a week” from November through to May.

The $1.3bn facility, heralded as a potential game-changer for Latin American west coast container supply chains will be able to handle ships of up to 24,000 teu once fully operational, and was built with the aim of becoming a primary transhipment hub for the region, connected to the west coast’s secondary ports through feeder services.

However, indicated that over the next six months it would only be handling vessels of up to 14,000 teu.

What remains undetermined however, is whether Cosco plans to deploy its own 14,000 teu box ships on dedicated sailings to the new port or persuade its Ocean Alliance partners to make inducement calls.

According to the eeSea liner database, the Ocean Allaince partners – CMA CGM, Cosco/OOCL and Evergreen – currently operate three Asia-Latin America services, all calling at DP World’s terminal in Callao, Peru’s current main container gateway.

However, only one of these services – the ACSA1 – deploys 14,000 teu vessels, all 12 of which are provided by CMA CGM, with the OA remaining partners allocated 60% of slots. The ASCA2 service deploys an average vessel size of 9,600 teu and the ASCA3 those of 8,700 teu.

However, slackening demand on the transpacific and Asia-Europe trades, following the end of their respective peak seasons, may free-up some tonnage for Cosco if it decides to conduct the “test conditioning” phase on its own.

Mr Tejeda’s comments also appear to draw a line under a simmering conflict between Cosco and the Peruvian government, after the latter threatened to withdraw Cosco’s 30-year exclusive operating concession and invite other terminal operators. Subsequent talks between Lima and Beijing confirmed the original terms of the concession.