Hong Kong-based multinational port operator Hutchison Port Holdings and United Arab Emirates-based port operator Dubai Ports World have expressed interest in concession initiatives in central Chile's San Antonio port terminals, an official from state-owned San Antonio port administrator Empresa Portuaria San Antonio (Epsa) told BNamericas.
On November 14, Epsa submitted a concession tender proposal to Chile's anti-trust tribunal TDLC, according to the TDLC website.
In the document, the company requests permission to apply the same conditions for the new terminal as were used in the port's first terminal concession tender, held about a decade ago, an official from the firm Consulting - in charge of Epsa's communications on the process - told BNamericas.
The new concession project will expand the port's capacity, increasing concessioned terminals to two, as well as contributing to its competitiveness, the communications official added.
The concession contract is expected to be awarded during the third quarter of 2009.
"The Costanera terminal's tender seeks to increase the competitiveness of intra and inter-port activities, and maximize the social benefits associated with the terminal, its users and all port system players," local publication Mundo Marítimo quoted Epsa chairman Patricio Arrau as saying.
The project will require an estimated US$400mn investment.
The new initiative has also attracted the interest of large Chilean investment groups and other global port operators.
The current concessioned terminal, STI, is operated by SSA Holdings International Chile, SAAM and the International Finance Corporation, which won the contract in 2000.
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