The City-Port Coordination Council of Coquimbo held its third session, an instance considered key for collaboration between different actors for the benefit of the harmonious development of the port facility and its urban environment.
The activity complies with Article 50 of Law No. 19,542, which establishes the creation of said council to promote integration between both sectors, with special emphasis on the care of the urban environment, access roads, and the environment.
The meeting, chaired by the regional governor of Coquimbo, Cristóbal Juliá, was held in the premises of the Regional Government and was attended by local authorities, public services, representatives of the private sector and Empresa Portuaria Coquimbo, represented by its General Manager, in its role as the Executive Secretariat of the council.
During the session, various topics were addressed, such as the coastal edge improvement project, the “Mercado del Mar” initiative, the implementation of the USDA Inspection Site, vehicle management, and port access roads. In addition, the projection for the 2025-2026 Cruise Season was discussed, as well as the follow-up on the results of the recent political-commercial tour to Tucumán.
Regarding the progress and evaluations made, Cristóbal Juliá, governor of the Coquimbo Region, stated that “after our tour of Tucumán, where we had negotiations and generated strategic allies to strengthen the work of the Port of Coquimbo, we brought ourselves up to date on how we are advancing in important projects such as the improvement of the coastal edge and how we will finally address the issue of the Mercado del Mar. This entire improvement process also seeks to integrate the Port of Coquimbo with the metropolitan area, in a vision where the entire coastal edge converses and projects itself as a great axis of regional development.”
For his part, the general manager of Empresa Portuaria Coquimbo, Ernesto Piwonka, highlighted the relevance of this coordination space, emphasizing that “in the session we noted great advances such as the strategic project of the USDA inspection site, which will allow for the inspection in Coquimbo of fruit destined for the United States, thus avoiding fumigation at origin and improving the quality of the product at destination, making it more competitive; furthermore, it avoids losses at destination in case of inspections with rejection there, which means great direct benefits for local producers, by reducing losses and facilitating entry into new markets.”
Furthermore, in this coordination instance, key initiatives were reviewed, such as the port’s road connectivity with Route 5, the improvement of the Agua Negra Pass, the enabling of new spaces to receive cargo, and the Coastal Edge project.
“All these actions aim to deploy the port’s potential, which in recent years has doubled its cargo transfer capacity, strengthening both regional competitiveness and the city-port relationship,” concluded Ernesto Piwonka.
