The Turkish company Yilport Holdings Inc will operate the ports of Acajutla and La Unión in a 50-year concession, as part of a joint venture with ECA.
President Nayib Bukele announced on Sunday night an investment of $1,615 million by the Turkish company Yilport Holdings Inc., destined to modernize the port of Acajutla and activate the operations of the port of La Unión in a Joint Economy Society with the state Port Executive Commission (CEPA).
Yilport Holdings will handle both ports and a 50-year concession contract. Bukele announced the creation of the Pacific Port Union as part of phase 3 of the government’s economic plan called “Logistics.”
The government said that the third phase of the economic plan “will start with the largest private investment ever made in El Salvador.”
The stages of phase 3
The investment of $1.615 million by Yilport will be run in stages, according to the video posted by the president, which will begin at the end of 2024.
In the first stage, the infrastructure of the Port of Acajutla will be improved, with the purchase of new equipment “to reduce port response times, immediately.”
For the second stage new infrastructure will be built in Acajutla, with the aim of “triplicating the capacity of the terminal.”
The Port of Acajutla, in Sonsonate, is the main maritime platform in El Salvador for the export and import of raw materials and finished products. In the extraportical areas there is also the liquefied natural gas (LNG) megaplantation.
Investment in the port of the Union
The Government highlighted in its publication the abandonment of the port of La Unión, which “has not worked since its construction, more than two decades ago.”
For this port the investment will be made in a dredging work and the purchase of machinery.
The Union has not operated at its peak since its construction in 2008. This terminal was proposed as a competition to the Panama Canal, but the sedimentation difficult to enter large ships and was basically relegated to fishing boats.
In the Port of the Union, the first stage will include an initial dredging to maintain the depth and activate the terminal, in addition to buying modern equipment such as cranes, chargers and backhoes.”
Video of the Government of El Salvador
“Stage 3 of the economic plan will generate new and better business opportunities for our country, starting with the Pacific Port Union,” the government stressed on investment in foreign enterprise.
Yilport Holding Inc. was established in August 2011 as a subsidiary of the Yildirim Group and currently has a presence in 24 countries where it operates ports and maritime terminals, counting 7 in Portugal, 2 in Spain, 2 in Sweden, 1 in Norway, 1 in Croatia, 1 in Malta, 1 in Italy, 1 in Ecuador, 1 in Peru, 1 in Guatemala and 1 in Ghana.
Operator Yilport announced last March that it had signed a memorandum of understanding for a concession agreement to manage the ports of Acajutla and La Unión for 100 years. Yilport delegates visited the maritime terminals in August 2022.
The economic plan
President Nayib Bukele unveiled the government economic plan on July 17, in its first two stages.
- Phase 1 called food includes the launch of agromarkets nationwide and the construction and adaptation of supply plants.
- Phase 2 called technology consisted of the opening of the DataTrust, in Ciudad Arce, which makes it the first certification data center in the country and the second largest in Central America.
- Phase 3 will include private investment in the country’s port areas and is called logistics.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo