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The new port is currently inactive, as there is still no definition regarding how to give it under concession to an operator. In light of this, technicians from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are in the country gathering information about the port, in order to help design a solution.
JICA, Japan's International Cooperation Agency, is also planning to send a team to collaborate in this process. The Asian country was the main lender of the port, contributing $105 million for its construction.
Local newspaper Elsalvador.com reported: "Guillermo López Suarez, president of the port authority, assured $50 million are required to operate the port with new machinery, whilst doing it with used equipment would cost $20 million. He also added that the ports concession law would be delayed an additional 30 to 40 months".
Source: elsalvador.com
More on this topic
October 2010
Carriers suggest specializing the ports of La Union and Acajutla in order to make them more attractive.
After the first month of the port´s operation, the port showed some movement by receiving one ship per week, but since then it has remained completely inactive.
According to Maria José Saavedra article´s in Laprensagrafica.com, the president of the Salvadoran Association of Cargo Transport Entrepreneurs (ASETCA), Nelson Vanegas, suggested that "Puerto La Union could specialize in cooling containers and Puerto Acajutla, could specialize in grains, fuels, gases and any liquids, so that companies know best what products land on each port."
June 2008
Authorities in El Salvador have presented the terms of the tender that will lead to concessions for the ports of Acajutla and La Unión.
The operator will have to invest US$95 million in the first five years, according to the terms presented by Rolando Díaz Benavides of the nation's Autonomous Executive Ports Commission (CEPA).
April 2009
For the new port to be able to compete with other ports in the region and as an inter-oceanic canal, La Unión needs a train connection to Guatemala.
The former president of the Autonomous Executive Commission (CEPA), Hugo Barrera, said, "If the railway between La Unión Port y Santo Tomás de Castilla in Guatemala cannot be rehabilitated, it will just be another port."
April 2010
Over the next 18 months, the International Financial Corporation (IFC) will design a concession model for port La Unión in El Salvador.
It will be financed with $1 million from IFC and $200.000 from ports authority CEPA, and will be split in three phases. First they will conduct a market study to assess the port’s potential market, and then they will design a new concessions law based on public/private schemes.
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