Puerto de Barranquilla to Invest USD 12Million in Equipment Renovation

January 7, 2020 | Maritime | Energy Facts Staff Writer | 2min

The president of the Puerto de Barranquilla Society, René Puche said that moving forward with the process of technological transformation and advancing in the renewal of equipment will be the priorities of the investment plan for this year.

“In 2020 we followed the technological and digital transformation project that we have been working on since 2019, which puts us at the forefront of technology issues at the port level,” he said.

The executive referred to the projected investment for this year. “We will invest about 40,000 million pesos (US $ 12,283,680) in the purchase of equipment to continue providing the best service to our customers,” he said.

Another focus of work will be the renovation of the infrastructure, especially in the part of equipment and remodeling of the current warehouses.

Cargo mobilization

Regarding the transfer of cargo, the Puerto de Barranquilla Company closed 2019 with more than 5.3 million tons mobilized, compared to 5.2 million tons mobilized in 2018.

The main types of cargo corresponded to bulk and containers. “We consolidated ourselves as an efficient terminal for loading of both dirty and clean bulks and we have also managed clinker for companies such as Ultracem, based in Galapa, which imports its clinker through Barranquilla,” Puche said.

As for the load of granles, last year they exceeded 2.2 million tons mobilized, a figure that is considered as “a historical record” for the terminal.

Puche said that Barranquilla has always been recognized in the country as a port area that moves many bulks and needs to continue consolidating this position.

The executive said that the growth achieved is significant taking into account the difficulties that arose with the access channel to the Port of Barranquilla in the first months of last year.

“In the first months of 2019 we had to make the diversion of about 150 thousand tons, which is worrying not only from the point of view of the income of the port, but of the cost overruns they represented for our customers and for the local industry” he remembered.

Contract with Ternium

Similarly, the port works on the signing of a contract with Ternium, for a period of 5 years, for the operation of the billet, the raw material necessary for the manufacture of steel rods.

With this negotiation, some 500,000 tons of billet are projected annually by the local terminal.

In general, Puche stressed that the terminal continues to consolidate as a logistics platform offering comprehensive services to its customers, which meet the needs they present in terms of cargo handling, warehouse, inventory management, dispatch, transportation and others.