El Salvador's ports of Acajutla and La Union, are among several Latin American ports in privatization's crosshairs with the help of the World bank.
El Salvador’s Acajutla and La Union ports should be concessioned as a single unit, according to Dutch company APM Terminals’regional manager for Latin America, Henrik Pedersen. If the two terminals were to be concessioned together, APM Terminals would be interested in bidding for their concession, according to the executive.
“If a tender covers both ports and the contract terms allow the concessionaire to make a decent return on its investment, then we would definitely be interested,” Pedersen said.
The two ports, currently operated by national ports authority Cepa, could eventually be concessioned, pending changes to El Salvador’s concession law.
The ports cannot be concessioned under the current law; however, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) is carrying out a study to determine the financial, technical and legal feasibility of concessioning the ports.