The National Institute of Roads (Invías) awarded the European Dredging Company Sucursal Colombia the maintenance dredging works of the
access to port of buenaventurathe main maritime port of Colombia.
The company will have the contractual obligation to recover the depth both in the external bay and in the internal bay of the access channel to the port.
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The dredging works have a term of four months and a cost of 22,430 million pesos. With the maintenance of the access channel to the port of Buenaventura 180,000 inhabitants of the city will benefit directly.
The access channel to port of buenaventura has a length of 31.5 kilometersequivalent to 17 nautical miles, and has an external bay of 13.5 meters (at low tide) and an internal bay of 12.5 meters (at low tide).
Juan B. Diaz. WEATHER Archive
Juan José Oyuela, general director (e), of Invías, assured that the project will allow the entry of larger vessels, sediment maintenance costs and marking the activation of the local and regional economy.
“The dredging will allow the depth of the access channel to be recovered, offering better conditions for navigability, which would guarantee an advantage over competitors in the region and the development of foreign trade activities smoothly,” he added.
(Read also: Attorney asks Invías and ANI for measures after freezing travel rates)
Santiago Saldarriaga. WEATHER Archive
The dredging works are of the utmost importance for Colombia because through the port of Buenaventura mobilizes 33.6 percent of the cargo of merchandise and raw materials of the country.
The entry of vessels with a greater draft improves the competitiveness of the
port, where 19.7 million tons were mobilized in 2022, of which about 4.3 million corresponded to exports14.2 million for imported cargo and 1.2 million for cabotage and transhipment.
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Dredging is also important because it boosts the regional economy. Last year, 14,783 companies used the port area of Buenaventura to import or export raw materials, consumer goods or technology, as updated by the Cali Chamber of Commerce.
Bogotá and Cundinamarca, were the largest users of the port of bonaventura with 7,178 companies, followed by Antioquia (2,810) and Valle del Cauca (2,520).
