Chinese President Xi Jinping officially opened the new port "Chancay" near the Peruvian capital Lima - the first port terminal financed by China in South America
The Chinese leader virtually opened the terminal together with Peruvian President Dina Bolwarte from the presidential palace in Lima. Xi is there for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) high-level meeting.
During the first year of a port's operation, 1 million containers are expected to pass through it. The facility was built by the company "Cosco Shipping Ports" (Cosco Shipping Ports), which owns a 60% stake in it. The company has a 30-year concession to use the port, which continues to develop and in its final form will cover an area of 1.41 million square meters.
China is seeking to secure its supply of strategic raw materials such as copper, soybeans and lithium, which are seen as key to the environmental transition. The Asian giant also plans to increase its exports to South America, an area where its influence is steadily increasing at the expense of the US, which is losing its dominant position.
Chancay Port, which is located 80 km north of Lima, will initially have four piers, and in its finished form - 15. Investments in it amount to a total of 3.5 billion dollars.
The deep-water facility (with a depth of almost 18 m), whose construction began in 2021, will be able to accommodate the largest container ships in the world - giants that can carry up to 24,000 containers.
"In addition to being a deep-sea port, it is also the first intelligent and ecological port in South America," the Chinese president said at the ceremony.
In his talks with Peruvian President Xi Jinping, he noted that China is considering a port "Chancay" as a starting point for the construction of a new sea-land corridor between China and Latin America, the port is a successful project under the "One Belt, One Road" initiative.
