The head of the National Ports Administration (ANP), Juan Curbelo, announced that in the last quarter of the year the works of the Capurro fishing terminal and the new dock of the Montevideo bulk terminal will be completed.
Article continues below
In addition, between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, the specialized pulp terminal will be completed. These works will help make Montevideo an efficient and competitive port, he said.
"The port of Montevideo is under construction," said Curbelo, in dialogue with the Presidential Communication, and listed the projects underway.
The hierarch described that the Teyma-Chediack consortium is advancing in the construction of the Capurro fishing terminal. The firm told the agency that the works will be completed in the last quarter of 2022. The venture, with the capacity to serve 50 ships, required an investment of 90 million dollars and is located north of the bay of Montevideo, between the mouth of the Miguelete stream and the access channel to La Teja.
The works involve the execution of a 21-hectare dock, which is entered through the La Teja canal, and a total of 966 meters of berths.
Curbelo recalled that the ANP made a call, which expires in March, to award the assembly of a cold room to private parties. He anticipated that, in addition to national fishing, the new terminal will be attractive for the international fleet that operates in the South Atlantic, so Montevideo could be its base port.
"If we achieve this objective, the fishing industry will acquire significant dynamism, due to the ships that would arrive at the port of Montevideo and due to the generation of jobs in this specialized fishing terminal," he projected.
Meanwhile, work continues on the viaduct in the port area that is linked to the north access of the terminal and will be completed between May and June of this year.
On the walkway there will also be three lanes in each direction with a width of 24 meters. With the works in the area of ​​esplanades, the port adds more than 5 hectares. Part of the boulevard will form part of the port area and will generate a new internal circulation.
The expansion of the area is associated with the incorporation of technology and new scales for trucks. "The dynamics of entry and exit to the port will benefit" with the improvements described, said the interviewee.
In parallel, the construction of the specialized cellulose port terminal is progressing, which will be completed between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. There, the cellulose from Durazno will be received and stored by train and the chemical substances required in the industrial process of the UPM plant being built in that department. The terminal includes a basin with a deep-water pier.
This is added to the construction of a berth and an esplanade for the operation of ships with a draft of up to 14 meters at the Montevideo bulk terminal. The investment will be 15 million dollars and will be completed by the end of this year.
Curbelo pointed out that the works will improve the port infrastructure and position Montevideo as an "efficient and competitive port, receiving cargo from the RÃo de la Plata" destined overseas.
Likewise, the expansion of the container esplanade of the Cuenca del Plata SA terminal is beginning, which will make it possible to gain a surface area of ​​5 hectares from the bay towards the southeast coastal front, close to the Sarandà breakwater and will consume a figure of 455 million of dollars. "It is the largest investment in the history of the port of Montevideo and will double the area" of the specialized container terminal, he asserted.
The head of the ANP added that the process of scrapping ships that remained in the bay of Montevideo continues. It is about fifty abandoned, sunken, semi-sunken or heeled (inclined) boats. In 2021, teams from the agency worked on a reformulation of the successful bidder.
Since January, the Christophersen company has dismantled an initial set of 18 ships in the Puntas de Sayago area to market the scrap. These tasks will allow "the bay to look clear, friendly, without those ships that disfigured the port and the city" and that also constituted an environmental risk, due to the loss of fuel, he indicated. ■