Posorja is now the center of operations for the shipping company in Ecuador, which stopped operating from the south of Guayaquil where it has reduced banana cargo by 35%.
The change of operations of the Danish shipping company Maersk from the Guayaquil Sea Port, operated by Contecon, to the Posorja Deep Water Port, managed by DP World, is already reflected in port statistics, at least in terms of banana exports. it means.
The shipping company of the Danish group AP Møller-Mærsk announced its transfer at the beginning of December last year and it was made official on January 4 of this year with the arrival of the ship MSK Evora at that port terminal.
Now, with the first month counted, the banana sector reported that the Posorja terminal went from sending 4,011,627 boxes of the fruit in January 2023 to 8,735,977 boxes in January 2024, an increase of 117.77%, according to the latest report from the Banana Marketing and Export Association of Ecuador (Acorbanec).
Its executive director, Richard Salazar, confirms that the increase in the movement of banana cargo is due to the change of the Danish shipping company, which is the second to move this type of cargo in Ecuador, with 20.77% of the total bananas. exported, only surpassed by MCS (Mediterranean Shipping Company), which transports 26.88%.
Returning to Posorja, with the arrival of Maersk, the DP World Deep Water Port went from capturing 10.87% of Ecuador's banana cargo in January 2023 to 26.95% last January, while the Sea Port of Guayaquil registered a decrease of 35.54% in the collection of fruit to be transported to different international markets.
According to Acorbanec figures, this terminal went from moving 25,159,920 boxes of bananas in January 2023 to 16,218,065 boxes, and went from 58.18% to 50.04%.
PART OF THE CARGO FROM PUERTO BOLÍVAR WAS ALSO CHANGED TO POSORJA
However, although much of this increase in the movement of the Port of Deep Waters is due to the arrival of Maersk, Salazar assures that the terminal is also receiving cargo that was previously exported from Puerto Bolívar, in the province of El Oro. terminal registered a decrease of 3.51% in the mobilization of banana cargo last January.
According to Salazar, the migration of this cargo is due to the fact that the Puerto Bolívar terminal does not yet have scanners.
“Part of Machala's cargo is going to Posorja precisely because of the scanner issue, because they still don't have a scanner in Puerto Bolívar, but I understand that they start operating in March. There is a movement for that too, but above all it is because of the Maersk movement,” says the executive director of Acorbanec.
ADDITIONAL COST OF ARRIVING TO POSORJA WAS NEGOTIATED BETWEEN EXPORTERS AND SHIPPING COMPANY
Meanwhile, regarding the additional transportation costs that the export sector must pay to mobilize the cargo that previously left from the south of Guayaquil and now does so from Posorja, Salazar acknowledges that “there is a higher cost for transportation, of course, but that Some exporters have already negotiated with the shipping company directly.”
Last December, Salazar calculated that the mobilization to Posorja represents an additional cost of US$130 per container, which in turn translates into an additional US$0.12 per exported box.
