Compas has interests in all major ports in Colombia, including at Cartagena, Barranquilla, Buenavista, Tolú and Buenaventura. Its various facilities have an estimated design capacity to handle 13 Mtpa of cargo, and, while bulk cargoes, including grain, coal and cement, are the main commodities processed, the company’s container traffic business is increasing.

Indeed, it is in the latter sector where some of the most interesting investments are taking place and where growth prospects are expected to be the most robust in the future. Last year, Compas signed a joint-venture agreement  with APM Terminals to run its existing multipurpose terminal in Colombia’s largest port of Cartagena, and to invest in its future development as a container operation.

The company formed by the two groups, Cartagena Container Terminal Operator, is now in the process of investing in excess of US$200M in extending the berth at the facility by 110m, strengthening existing quay walls, consolidating storage areas, and procuring equipment. This is intended to support an increase in its annual throughput capacity from 250,000 TEU currently to over 600,000 TEU by the end of 2020. An as yet unidentified phase 2 programme could  expand this capacity to almost 800,000 TEU a year.

The GS deal, which was worth an estimated COP407B (approximately US$136M), involved West Street Infrastructure Partners III, an investment fund managed by Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division, buying the shares from  Grupo Argos, a Colombian conglomerate that also has interests in other infrastructure sectors, such as airport and highway concessions, as well as in cement and energy.

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This complete item is approximately 300 words in length, and appeared in the August 2017 issue of WorldCargo News, on page 4. To access this issue download the PDF here.