LatinNews Daily - 13 October 2025

*Chile’s state-owned port authority Empresa Portuaria San Antonio (Epsa), which is in charge of the San Antonio port in Valparaíso region, has announced that Spain’s Dragados-Sacyr consortium and China’s state-run China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) are the two new prequalified bidders in the international tender for the ‘Puerto Exterior’ development project. The bidding process for the project, which opened in January, already had five companies and two consortia competing to be awarded the contract for the project, which seeks to expand the capacity of San Antonio, Chile’s main freight port. As of the end of September, these included Van Oord (Netherlands), Jan de Nul (Belgium), China Harbour Engineering Company (China), Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (South Korea), and the Acciona-Deme consortium (Spain-Belgium). The tender includes the award of a contract for the construction of the breakwater (approximately 4km long), dredging to create the dock and access channel, esplanades, rail access with two stations, and work facilities, as well as environmental compensation and mitigation measures. This will involve an investment of US$1.95bn from Epsa, with a further US$2.5bn contributed by the private sector through port concessions. When completed, the expanded port will have a capacity to transfer around 60m tonnes of cargo a year and will be able to receive, simultaneously, up to eight 400-metre-long ships, the largest currently sailing in the world. The register of prequalified companies will be published by 15 November by the latest, with bids due to be received in January 2026 and the contract awarded in March.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 255 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial