Manta appoints new director and moves forward with concession plan

News 30 May 2012 by WCN Editorial

The port authority of Manta (APM) has a new director. Rodolfo Cano Mure, an economist, has taken over the post from Guillermo Morán Velásquez, who has been appointed a vice president of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

𝕏

Cano, a distinguished economist, worked as an expert adviser to Morán during the past 18 months, when the documents for the transfer of operations at the port to the private sector were being prepared and drawn up. Morán completed his work at the port when the public call for bids was announced on 9 May.

The timetable for receipt and assessment of bids, notification of qualified bids and the final results has been published by APM. It has provisionally set 28 September 2012 and 30 November 2012 as the dates for the notification of the award and the signing of the concession contract respectively.

Port visits and familiarisation tours are being organised during the period from 30 May to 16 July.

According to Roberto Salazar, the president of APM, speaking before the public bidding was launched, 13 terminal operators expressed an interest, of which four handle more than 10M TEU/year.

As previously reported, the privatisation of operations at the Port of Manta is part of a national logistics plan and the project to develop the Manta-Manaus corridor, so that the port becomes a leading gateway for Asia-South America cargo flows.