Iquique port 9mth. net profit jumps 35.4%

The port of Iquique in northern Chile's Region I posted a 1.58bn peso (US$2.56mn) net profit in the first nine months, up 35.4% from the same period last year, Empresa Portuaria Iquique (EPI) said in a statement to the country's securities regulator, the SVS. For the period, operating profit fell 2.95% to 2.52bn pesos due to an increase in insurance costs, worker indemnity and depreciation; while revenue increased 2% to 4.45bn pesos due to the value of the US dollar, as the majority of rates charged at the port is expressed in US dollar-terms, as well as an increase of the canon paid by private-sector concessionaire, Iquique Terminal Internacional (ITI). The port moved 1.02Mt in the first semester, and last year moved a record 1.55Mt, a 13% increase over 2001, including a record 32,689t from Bolivia last year, a 28% jump from 2001. In regard to TEUs, the port moved 111,510 TEUs in 2002 compared to 105,250 TEUs the year before. Goods to and from the Iquique duty-free area (Zofri) made up close to 50% of cargo, while the mining and fishing industries made up 20% and 15%, respectively. Last year, EPI unveiled US$35mn-worth of development plans for the port, of which US$24mn correspond to ITI that operates one of the port's terminals. The investment includes expanding docking space, and deepening the port to 15m, allowing vessels of more than 4,500 TEUs to use the port. Currently the port's limit is 2,500 TEUs. ITI won the concession in July 2000. Sudamericana Agencias Aereas y Maritimas (SAAM) controls 60% of the company, while Urbaser, the public services subsidiary of Spain's Dragados, holds the remaining 40%.