Antofagasta port 9mth. net profit down 40.2%

Empresa Portuaria Antofagasta (EPA), the state operator for Chile's Region II Antofagasta port posted a 1.57bn peso (2.51mn) net profit in the first nine months, down 40.2% from the same period last year. For the period, revenue fell 33.2% to 5.4bn pesos and operating profit fell 48.5% to 2.74bn pesos, EPA said in a statement to the country's securities regulator, the SVS. EPA moved 743,636t between January and September, a 70% decrease from the same period last year, attributing the fall to the entry of Antofagasta Terminal Internacional (ATI), which took control of berth 2 (sites 3-7) from EPA in March and moved 1.57Mt in the first nine months. For the period, ATI posted a US$3.15mn net profit, a US$3.82mn operating profit and US$11mn in revenue. Made up of Sudamericana de Agencias Aereas y Maritimas (SAAM) and Inmobiliaria Sudamericana, ATI plans to invest US$18mn to modernize the port, purchase equipment and machinery to improve operational efficiency, as well as building a storage facility for mineral concentrates. Antofagasta port focuses on mineral shipments, and along with neighboring ports Mejillones and Tocopilla, makes the region a major port zone and increases northern Chile's access to Argentina and Brazil via the Tropic of Capricorn bi-oceanic corridor. Last year, the port moved a record 3.26Mt, up 7.2% from 2001.