Peru has 3,080 kilometers of coastline, with a large number of seaports that have become very important for the country's foreign trade, as 91% of exports are carried out by sea transport.
Currently, Peru has 61 seaports, of which Callao, Paita, and San Martín (Pisco) stand out in terms of exports carried out by sea transport.
The Port of Callao, officially the Callao Port Terminal, is a seaport on the central coast of Peru, in the southeastern Pacific, belonging to the city of Callao, in the Constitutional Province of Callao.
It is considered the country's main port, as it receives the largest volume of traffic and has the greatest storage capacity. According to the latest ECLAC classification, it is ranked as the fourth most important port in Latin America.
The Port of Callao benefits from its geographical location, close to the country's capital, which connects it to industrial areas in Lima, facilitating the distribution of goods to other Peruvian regions.
Furthermore, with a 16-meter-deep coastline, it can accept shipments carrying up to 15,000 containers and has five docks that can handle five vessels of any size simultaneously.
The Paita Port Terminal is located in the department of Piura, in the north of the country. It is the second-largest national port, after Callao, in terms of maritime container transport and the fifth in total cargo handling.
The Port of Paita is the main port in northern Peru, handling export containers primarily containing agricultural and aquatic products.
It is currently capable of handling vessels up to 330 meters in length and can handle two vessels simultaneously.
The General San Martín Port Terminal in Pisco, operated by Terminal Portuario Paracas, is located in the Department of Ica, Pisco Province, Paracas District, and Punta Pejerrey, 280 kilometers south of the Port of Callao.
As a result of its recent modernization, the General San Martín Port Terminal can now accommodate larger vessels and offers faster container loading and unloading, lower logistics costs for agricultural exporters, and optimal conditions for the transport of refrigerated products.
The Port of Chancay, operated by the state-owned shipping company Cosco, will begin operations in 2022
The Port of Chancay aims to become one of China's main connections with the countries on the west coast of South America, serving as a bridge for the growing merchandise trade between this region and the Asia-Pacific region. Through Terminales Portuarios Chancay, the Chinese company Cosco Shipping Ports is planning an initial investment of $1.2 billion for the first phase of the project: the construction of new breakwaters to reclaim land from the sea, achieving greater depth (16 meters) and operational surface area (one million containers). The total investment will be $3 billion; it is expected to be operational in 2022.
The new port of Chancay, covering almost 1,000 hectares, will include an entrance complex, an underground viaduct tunnel, and a port operational area. It will have a container terminal with two docks, and a bulk, general, and roll-on/roll-off terminal with two docks. According to the company, the port will have an annual cargo handling capacity of one million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units). It should be added that the port complex will have the unloading capacity for Triple E vessels, considered the second largest container ships in the world.
The multi-port is located 75 km north of Lima and will be connected to the center of the country via a highway to Oyón and Ambo, in the Peruvian Andes. This road infrastructure, with a public investment of $450 million, represents a decentralization effort by the Peruvian government.
The Port of Chancay could pose serious competition to the Callao Port Terminal, managed by DP World Callao (a subsidiary of Dubai Ports World), APM Terminals, and Transportadora Callao. It is the de facto port of Lima and is the country's main port in terms of traffic and storage capacity, with port throughput in 2018 of 2.3 million TEUs and 56 million tons, representing 51% of the national total.
