By Sebastián Betancourt
The ports of Talcahuano and San Vicente naturally seek to have more cargo transit through their docks. This objective is supported by the establishment of a growing oil and gas industry in Neuquén, Argentina, whose progress could involve the Chilean coast of the Bio Bio Region as an access and exit route for products.
Meanwhile, the Bio Bio continues to push for the formation of a strengthened logistical network capable of supporting the volumes of goods expected to increase in the near future, with the railway, trucks, and intermodality as one of the main pillars supporting the transport chain.
That same intention of increase could find another support in the national agricultural sector deployed in the central and southern zone of Chile, where the possibility of capturing its production and mobilizing it from the maritime terminals of Talcahuano and San Vicente is envisioned. The general manager of Puertos de Talcahuano, Cristian Wulf, is aware of this opportunity and states that “our hinterland has to be strengthened even more from Maule to Los Lagos.”
What is the current situation of the port system of the Bio Bio Region?
There are many terminals and ports in the region, there is high competition and also supply which increases that competition, without a doubt. So, in a way, what we have been visualizing is that our hinterland has to be strengthened even more from Maule to Los Lagos. In a way, perhaps from the south, cargo is strongly leaving through the ports of the region, but the challenge is towards the north, in that climate change begins to lower the border and makes the exit of products through the Bio Bio Region more interesting. Many instances have been generated to be able to attract cargo that is relatively close or within our hinterland, but which historically has opted for the central zone. Links have been made to visit the facilities, to be able to explain what we are doing and the benefits of being able to use the ports in Talcahuano.
How strong is that possibility seen?
In the long run, there is a lot of potential from that point of view to attract cargo that naturally, over time, the border will be closer to the ports of the Bio Bio Region for that type of goods that are on the limit. I believe that is getting closer and closer and there is also more interest in knowing our local reality and going to the port. We do joint work with the concessionaires to promote these instances and bring exporters closer.
The industrial development of Vaca Muerta, in Neuquén, can it also favor the ports of Talcahuano?
The potential and boom that Neuquén is having, through Vaca Muerta, regarding the oil and gas industry, for the time being, can start with those two industries as needs for equipment and supplies. In the long run, what we visualize is that this will bring growth and a need for development of various kinds.
There we see that there is great potential that is now at an important moment of growth and that clearly later, apart from the industries, will bring other things along with it.
What needs to be strengthened in the logistics and ports of the area to support the potential new cargo?
Several things; first, to continue in some way disseminating the existing port offering, which, although it has been done or perhaps some of the more traditional industries that exist, such as fruit exports from the area, for example, know it, but there are other more “incipient” industries that perhaps do not have it so present yet. The second thing is that there is work that has already been underway, for example with the Comex table or other more technical entities, on how to facilitate procedures for cargo movement between both countries. There are efforts between governments regarding the same; on the other hand, the issue of border crossings and all matters related to connectivity, where there are developments nonetheless and, in the future, it will probably be necessary to improve them, to have greater availability throughout the year for them to be operational at the border and on how to streamline procedures.
And on the railway side?
We have seen the interest of EFE to participate in some bimodal scheme that could be attractive and, at least, when we have had meetings with institutions in Argentina they have also found it very interesting, so it could undoubtedly be a hook to initiate or strongly resume cargo movement between and towards Argentina, because the interesting thing would be that both imports and exports could be complemented. Another relevant matter, which we raised at the time, is to have a greater presence of depots so that, as this balance of import and export cargo is made, they don’t have to come to Chile to pick up containers, which would make it very inefficient in that imbalance that there might be, but in the future that potentiality could exist.
There are several fronts of work…
There are several matters that, in a way, have been worked on at different instances at the level of the Comex table, formal instances that exist from time to time between governments and the efforts that are being made between the ports, in order to disseminate and continue advancing in making known that there is a port offering and that, added to the train, other wills and this growth that we hope for and believe will happen, come together and materialize into significant opportunities for the region.
How is the logistics infrastructure in the Bio Bio and its capacity currently?
There is available port offering and there are investments in the ports. Without a doubt, within the ports, each one and we ourselves will have investments. What is most needed to complement are last-mile infrastructure works, in our case the Interport Route, the Piedmont Route, these are the major works that are still missing in order to create a more powerful network within Gran Concepción. They are projects that are there, very close to being realized. This year the entry into operation of the Industrial Bridge and the new railway bridge has been very positive, which are works that had been in process for a long time and are now operating. Without a doubt, they facilitate and improve the resilience of the entire regional logistics system.
That, added to the other major projects that are in the pipeline and that we hope will materialize soon, would undoubtedly change or further improve the logistics landscape from the point of view of the last mile to the ports of the region.
What other advances are on the horizon for Puertos de Talcahuano?
We are developing what will be the new tender for the Puerto de San Vicente and for that we are also advancing in different engineering stages to see which are the most appropriate projects to give the port sustainable future growth. That is a relevant part for what will be the future tender, but on the other hand, we have everything related to the exterior, everything related to connectivity and how to expedite and push for these connectivity projects to happen. What complements this tender is to continue boosting rail freight with the relevant projects of EFE and how to facilitate the arrival of that rail freight, undoubtedly complementary to the truck, and on the other hand, to minimize the impact that the arrival of trucks has on the city, by having a frequency regulation zone. So, in terms of infrastructure, both internal growth and the complement of train-truck connectivity and this arrival to a pre-zone, would somehow facilitate the arrival of cargo more efficiently and with lower costs for the entire chain.
Regarding the cruise industry, are there projections for the ports of Talcahuano and San Vicente?
Unfortunately, no cruise ships have called recently, but we did have some a few years ago. We are members of the Corporación Puertos del Cono Sur, in which a whole effort is being made to carry out a joint development as a country so that more cruise ships arrive in the country. New partners have joined and, from that point of view, regionally many actors have also been interested in resuming the arrival of cruise ships, always understanding that they may not be volumes as large as in other ports in Chile, but it is a matter that interests us and that we have continued working to develop destinations, the capacities of the ports and, on the other hand, more jointly with the other port companies to develop the national territory in general.
In a review from a national perspective, is it necessary to decentralize the movement of cargo and the expansion of ports towards the north and south of the country, instead of concentrating the development of projects in the central area, as is the case with San Antonio and Valparaíso?
I believe that these are projects that complement each other as the country’s growth increases, but these opportunities, which are new cargoes, undoubtedly help increase investments for Chilean ports. So, other possibilities arise from the point of view of integration between the ports; from the point of view of the train itself, for example, the northern railway access project -towards Concepción- that is starting, would be a tremendous opportunity to generate a network, more than to compete. It means diversification and greater opportunities for the entry and exit of products from different industries in this hinterland, which is quite extensive.
Then, a series of other alternatives open up with this train opportunity, both with the case of the northern access, which is something new and will require time, but on the other hand, there is the pilot that was done to move salmon by railway and other products in the future, so more complementary transport alternatives to the truck begin to open up and, in particular towards the north, something different from what exists today opens up. It could perfectly be a large complementary freight movement network.
