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Monday, April 23, 2007

Special Reports

LATIN AMERICA'S TOP 25 PORTS

Santos Largest Latin Port — Again

Santos and Valparaiso grow most, while Colon and San Antonio see the strongest declines.

PANAMA BOOM: Balboa port in Panama is among the fastest-growing ports in Latin America. (Photo: Panama Ports Company)

BY THIERRY OGIER

SAO PAULO — Thierry Montagne arrived in Santos 12 years ago as a mechanic to work on the maintenance of imported machinery in South America’s largest — and then decadent — port. He has since been busy selling reach stackers for the U.S. crane manufacturer Terex and he now runs his own company. Business has been brisk: he has sold 225 machines all over Brazil, including more than half in the port of Santos.

From his small office just two blocks away from the pier, the French native has witnessed the modernization process that followed the privatization of several terminals a decade ago. “Private investment has led to expansion and modernization of port operations,” Montagne says.

All in all, Santos boosted its containerized cargo by 25.9 percent to 2.9 million TEUs last year. That resulted in Santos keeping its rank as the top Latin American port for the second year in a row, according to the 2007 ranking of Latin America's Top 25 Ports from Latin Business Chronicle. The ranking has been expanded from last year's Top 15 ports.

Colon, located at the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal, came in...

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From: Fernando Lopez De Castilla

London

Lets hope the projects that are being talked about in Peru, such as the megaport in the Tacna region in the south, and the megaport 'Isla San Lorenzo' are actually given the green light, would be good to see Peru having the largest ports in south america and for a very long time.