The figure reached on December 7, 1 million TEUs mobilized, “reaffirms the commitment of the administration, that Montevideo positions itself as a reference port on the Río de la Plata, and in the intelligent use of the infrastructure,” highlighted the President of the National Ports Administration (ANP), Juan Curbelo.
On December 7, the port of Montevideo reached the figure of 1 million TEUs, in what constitutes a new historic record, Curbelo announced this Thursday, the 8th, in an interview with Presidential Communication. The containers were mobilized for export, import and merchandise transit, both at public docks and at the Cuenca del Plata terminal.
The unit of measure teu represents the acronym for the English language twenty-foot equivalent unit (equivalent to 20 feet) and is used in foreign trade to calculate the load capacity of containers.
According to Curbelo, the figure confirms the commitment of the current administration to position Montevideo as a reference port on the Río de la Plata. He added that this reassures the terminal regarding the intelligent use of the infrastructure, the use of public piers and specialized areas. He added that it is the beginning of a positive transformation that has been generated in Montevideo with the administration of the current board of directors, and that the results are being observed.
He listed that shipping companies have relied on this terminal as a destination in the region for the loading of ships with greater capacity, and that they benefit from an access channel 13 meters deep.
He added that an important component of the figure is constituted by the capture of containers in transit, particularly from Paraguay and destined for overseas ports, which he considered a sample of cargo recovery from that country that arrives at Uruguayan ports. through the Paraguay-Paraná waterway.
In this sense, Curbelo indicated that the ANP seeks to transform the capital into a port with a greater concentration of volume of activity that receives, in addition to cargo from Paraguay, that of southern Argentina and Bolivia.
Before the agreement signed between the Presidency of the Republic and the Belgian company Katoen Natie in 2021, which extended the Montevideo port concession until 2081, 60% of the containers moved through public docks and the remaining 40% through Cuenca del Plata. The reorientation of port activity allowed 70% of the aforementioned million TEUs to be mobilized in the aforementioned specialized container terminal and the remaining 30% in public docks, explained the vice president of the ANP, Daniel Loureiro.
By exceeding one million TEUs mobilized, Montevideo consolidates its position as one of the 20 ports in Latin America and the Caribbean that mobilizes the most containerized cargo, the agency reported on its website.
In terms of works, Curbelo reviewed that on Monday the 12th the bridge on the port boulevard will be inaugurated, an investment of 140 million dollars “fully supported by the ANP”; In the first half of 2023, the Capurro fishing port will be inaugurated, the work of which cost more than 100 million dollars. The second phase of sleeves at the port of Colonia will also be inaugurated shortly, for which more than 4 million dollars were allocated, while the organization completes the award of the third phase of works for the Colonian terminal, for an investment of order of 20 million dollars.
