According to banana exporters, Ecuador's main export product, the price of shipments depends on the terminal from which they are shipped. As reported by the Ecuadorian digital media Express, exporting from the Guayaquil port would cost $200 less per container than shipping through the port of Posorja.
A container carries around 1,000 boxes, and each box sent through Posorja would cost 21 cents in relation to the terminals located in El Guasmo, La Trinitaria, or Fertisa. The country exports almost 400 million boxes of bananas per year and every penny counts, as competition with Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala is increasingly stronger.
A look from Guayaquil
Jose Antonio Contreras, the general manager of Contecon Guayaquil, a concessionaire that operates in the Libertador Bolivar terminal in Guayaquil, said that “Posorja maintains a feeder to Guayaquil. In other words, the same lines may not be competitive in DPW (DP World Posorja) due to land transport. Many exporters want to come to Guayaquil because the cost differential is very high, as it has a complicated situation,” he said.
In addition, since the Government of Ecuador has stated it plans to reduce subsidies, the export sector is doubtful about taking its cargo to Posorja, as a rise in diesel prices would strongly impact the logistics chain and exporters would be unable to compete in the markets, he added.
However, Contreras said, the situation does not favor Guayaquil as Contecon will be unable to increase shipments due to the existing overcapacity; Contecon has a (current) capacity of 1.5 million containers, while TPG (Guayaquil Port Terminal) and the other private terminals enabled have a capacity of 1.5 or 1.6 million containers and DPW of only 750,000 containers.
