Manta, MANABI
The port of Manta has been delegated to the Terminal Portuario de Manta (TPM) company for almost six years, and the annual growth of tons moved by this Manabi terminal fluctuates between 4% and 10%.
This year the largest movement of cars entering through this port will be registered, since it will reach 90,000 cars entered, according to the figures provided by TPM.
In the import of dry solid bulk, such as wheat, urea and fertilizers, between January and November of this year, 470,894 metric tons entered, almost 60,000 metric tons less than in the same period of 2021, when 529,706 metric tons were imported, the year in which closed entering some 569,797 metric tons of dry grains.
In the export cargo there are also decreases in the Manabita port, since between January and November of this 2022 some 45,255 metric tons left the Manta port terminal, when at the same time in 2021 some 56,225 metric tons were exported from this terminal of products, down almost 11,000 metric tons.
For Roberto Salazar, president of TPM, the problem is that there is not enough cargo volume to get the shipping lines to have a presence in Manta, since he points out that the lines put the ships where there is cargo, as is the case in Guayaquil.
He believes that in order to have a greater demand for cargo and services from Manta, some factors must be met; For example, connecting the port of Manabita and the province properly, speaking of the road issue.
“The port has to serve the region. We have the province of Los Ríos close to Manabí, which, being one of the largest banana producers in the country, has to (take it out) through ports that are much further away than the port of Manta. By the time that comes to fruition there will be a drastic change,” Salazar said.
But what will happen if this improvement in road connectivity is not produced, which is to expand and rehabilitate the Manta-Quevedo route? Salazar indicated that they will continue to depend on the determinations that can be made, recalling that the decision of the cargo owners is key, who are the ones who decide which port to use to export or import.
Port of Manta plans to close 2021 with a 2% growth in its cargo movement
The fishing export sector does bet on the use of the port of Manta, which even helped this important generator of foreign currency when some crises unfolded, such as the health crisis and the national strike of social groups in October 2019.
Mónica Maldonado, executive director of the Ecuadorian Chamber of Industrialists and Tuna Processors (Ceipa), pointed out that since 2019 they have made adaptations to shipping agencies so that they can make a stay at the port, and that this has helped businessmen, who export between 10% and 15% of what is processed in Manta.
“I think that there should (be) a job of commercial diffusion of the port with the shipping companies (to) attract them. We have the cargo, and it also has to do with the road part. The Provincial Government of Manabí has a road project, a ring where we could attract production from the entire El Carmen area, products from there, such as plantains, and also from the Sierra. The road network has to be strengthened; that is what we see would make the port more powerful”, stated Maldonado.
Another factor that affects not having a greater port movement, according to Salazar, was the fact that the Pacific Refinery was not built, whose work would generate cargo mobilization from the port of Manabita.
This also means that the variable fixed canon that TPM assigns to the Government reaches approximately $7 million, in the almost six years of delegation of the port.
“This is a long-term project: the results of port development are not seen in five or six years; They are seen from the tenth year. And we are about to get important news for the port of Manta, which we will notify when they are official. But we are going to continue increasing the cargo, and this is good news for the port,” Salazar declared.
One of the good news indicated by Salazar is an investment package that TPM has already proposed to the Manta Port Authority (APM) of more than $15 million, which will consist of the extension to 360 meters of international dock number two, as well as the construction a warehouse for storage of solid bulk; On average, half a million tons of this type of cargo enters annually.
In the hands of APM is the approval of these new constructions that are with exclusive resources of TPM.
The port of Manta will move 9,000 tons of cargo more than in 2019
In 2021, 1,162,000 metric tons were mobilized through the port of Manta, and Salazar expects that by 2022 it will close with an increase of 10% over what was mobilized the previous year.
The delegation of the port of Manta has been the subject of questions since the beginning of TPM’s work. Lucía Fernández, former president of the Chamber of Commerce of this city, indicated that in this city the port was expected to become a terminal with a greater movement of containerized cargo.
“And that is precisely what they are not going to do, precisely what they are not going to allow, because it goes against the interests of the delegates, because it goes against the gentlemen who administer our port. Remember that they have a greater investment in Guayaquil; So, by making ourselves competitive and efficient, the business in Guayaquil simply falls away”, reflected Fernández when they recalled the five years of the port delegation at the hands of TPM.
The Manabita fishing leader alluded to the fact that TPM is part of the Agunsa companies, which maintains logistics and agency businesses in ports and airports in several countries, including Ecuador. Fernández believes that it is time for APM to monitor what is happening with the delegation.
The one who also questioned the delegation process last month is Jaime Estrada Medranda, current candidate for mayor of correísmo in Manta, who criticizes the delegation process that took place precisely when Rafael Correa was still the country’s president.
In an interview granted to The newspaper, de Manabí, on November 14, indicated that, after the resignation of Victoria Zambrano as manager of APM, on that date several doubts arose, and that this evidenced the alleged mismanagement of the delegation process; He also requested that the State Comptroller General determine civil and criminal responsibilities against the delegation process.
Zambrano, in a resignation document that went viral, also objected to the port delegation process in favor of TPM.
“Manta must continue to receive the resources that the port has historically generated for the city,” declared Estrada, who also pointed out that the State cannot continue to subsidize a private company.
Salazar said that, since TPM assumed the delegation of the port of Manta, the State has not invested money in works within the delegated area. And as for Zambrano’s complaint, to date the alleged wrongdoing in the delegation process has been officially disclosed, or through a lawsuit or complaint. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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