EU Ambassadors visit Peru’s largest multipurpose terminal
APM Terminals Callao hosted an EU delegation of ambassadors representing 12 EU member states. Led by the EU Ambassador in Peru, Diego Mellado, the visit was of special interest as annual trade between the EU and Peru is more than $10 billion, 60% of which are exports from Peru to the EU, the company said in its press release.
The trade agreement between the EU and Peru celebrated its fifth anniversary this year- and this month, the Lima Chamber of Commerce and Peru Eurocámaras signed an agreement to centralize EU efforts to promote economic development and investment.
Peru has seen strong growth in recent years - with the port of Callao experiencing consistent growth of around 10% per annum since 1990, with the exception of 2009 and 2015.
APM Terminals Callao’s container volume grew by almost 50% over the past two years and currently handles around 39.8% of the country’s total container traffic. The terminal also handles 74% of Peru’s non-containerized (general) cargo (excluding minerals), including steel products, grains, RoRo cargo, cement, chemicals and frozen fish.
International trade with Peru is also set to benefit from a recently established free trade agreement with Australia. The deal will open up some of the most important markets in the Asia-Pacific region and the terminal’s strategic location makes it ideal for shipping lines in the trade lane.
The delegation also visited the Peru Customs authority (SUNAT) headquarters located inside the terminal. APM Terminals Callao has worked closely with SUNAT to improve the speed of container removal authorizations, reduce unnecessary container moves, and eliminate the cost of electronic tally notes for customers.
This year will also see the introduction of a new general cargo online interface, enabling customers to carry out administrative procedures using a single digital platform. Customers will be able to track terminal operations online in real time and obtain their invoices and authorizations through the system. The system also enables the terminal to plan operations more efficiently.
The terminal completed a $460 million terminal modernisation and expansion plan in 2016. Together with the recent purchase of new general cargo equipment and the huge effort of the general cargo team to implement new procedures, expand best practices, improve planning processes, launch training programs and enhance client communications - productivity rates have continued to improve even further. In 2017, productivity increased by 100% for solid bulk (300 to 600 MT/hour) and 135% for break-bulk cargo, compared to 2011, when APM Terminals Callao was granted the tender.
Port infrastructure improvements continue at APM Terminals Callao – with the modernization project of the hydrocarbons dock, which handled more than 88% of the country’s liquid volume in 2017. The project is particularly complex as discharge operations cannot be interrupted – but can be successfully achieved through alternating construction windows.
