The budgetary addition is being negotiated to guarantee navigability in the Barranquilla Port Zone in the second half of the year.
To highlight that cargo transportation through the Magdalena River increased by 21% in June 2021, compared to the same month of 2020.
Barranquilla, Atlántico. July 9, 2021. In order to find solutions to the problems faced by the Port of Barranquilla as a result of sedimentation and low draft in Bocas de Ceniza, the Minister of Transportation, Angela Maria Orozco, and the director of the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Rio Grande de la Magdalena (Cormagdalena) Pedro Pablo Jurado, manage before the Ministry of Finance a budget addition of USD 8 million, resources that will allow carrying out dredging work in this second half of the year. On the other hand, through Findeter, a direct contracting process is being implemented to have a dredge in the city next week and address the situation.
“We are aware that the effort of the national government requires integration and union of the port sector, unions and authorities in Barranquilla, so we will continue from the Ministry of Transport maintaining a framework of coordination and collaboration,” said Angela Maria Orozco.
For his part, Pedro Pablo Jurado said: “While the PPP comes into force, we are redoubling efforts to allocate the necessary resources to ensure the navigability of the Magdalena River, and thus continue to record excellent figures of cargo movement in the Port Zone of Barranquilla. In this effort we will not falter.
While it is true that July has been a challenge due to the difficulties at the mouth of the river in Bocas de Ceniza, it should be noted that the Port Zone of Barranquilla, in the first six months of the year has shown a significant recovery, with 6,060,731 tons moved, the highest figure for a first half of the year since records have been kept.
Likewise, it is highlighted that imports, exports, transit and cabotage grew by 21% in June 2021, with respect to the same period of the previous year, registering a cargo mobilization of 1,054,698 tons.
Of the cargo mobilized, the highest concentration was of imported solid bulks such as corn, clinker, cake and wheat, with 35% of the tons mobilized. This was followed by export coke and imported steel general cargo, with 22% each.
Another 11% reported in the mobilization was of products from the construction, food and chemical products segments. The remaining 10% was occupied by liquid bulks such as chemicals, soybean oil, hydrocarbons, among others.
Although the main type of cargo mobilized in the Barranquilla Port Zone is solid bulk, coke is the one that shows the highest growth during the first half of 2021 with respect to the same period of 2020.
The above, given that coke exports during the current semester were 1,591,955 tons, presenting a growth of 22% with respect to January-June 2020, coke being the commodity that drives the growth of foreign trade in the Port Zone.
Colombia is the third largest coke exporter in the world, after China (15 million tons) and Poland (6 million tons). The quality of Colombian coke is recognized worldwide.
“All this cargo is the result of the National Government’s commitment to the country’s competitiveness. We will continue to lead the actions required to address the urgency that arises in the Barranquilla Port Zone, as a result of sedimentation due to the dynamics of the marine wedge and water flows. Our goal is to have the PPP of the Magdalena River as soon as possible, since we have a structured project with the technical endorsement of the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB”, said the director of Cormagdalena.
