COSCO Shipping Ports (CSP) has bought a 60 per cent stake in Chancay Terminal in Peru from Volcan Compania Minera for US$225 million, reports London's PortTechnology.

　　"The investment in Chancay Terminal enabled us to further extend our reach to South America," said Cosco Shipping managing director Zhang Wei.

　　"The prospective terminal at Port of Chancay will be the company's first terminal in South America and should help reduce the deficiency in port infrastructure in Peru.

　　"With an ideal geographical location, Chancay Terminal is poised to be an important gateway port in Peru," he said.

　　The deal, which was agreed at a signing ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is CSP's first venture into South America and will see it partner with Volcan to build Chancay Terminal into an important gateway port in South America.

　　CSP says recent economic growth has made Peru an attractive country to invest in and Chancay Terminal's close proximity to the capital Lima (58km) has seen it become an invaluable trade hub.

　　Sixty per cent of Peru's economic activities are concentrated in the Lima areas and from 2010 to 2017 container throughput Chancay Terminal increased from 1.5 million to 2.5 million TEU.

　　The new partnership between CSP and Volcan, which will involve an initial investment of US$56 million, will see the construction of new multi-purpose terminals, container terminals and related infrastructure facilities.

　　The first phase will have four berths, two of which will be multi-purpose and two are specifically container berths with a total annual designed capacity of one million TEU.