San Antonio Port: Incentivising Port-City Integration through Citizen Participation

A contribution of Carlos Mondaca Matzner, Jefe Asuntos Públicos, Empresa Portuaria San Antonio, Chile Empresa Portuaria San Antonio is member of AIVP since 2011. The Port of San Antonio, Chile’s first port by tonnage, aims not only to increase the volume of goods handled but also to ensure the development of human capital, essential criteria for ensuring competitiveness. The port also seeks to strengthen the link with the community and to promote the port city integration through citizen participation. The modification of the Urban Development Plan, in which the Port of San Antonio carried out an extensive participation program including a hundred meetings, is a perfect example. The city and the port of San Antonio Located in the Fifth Region of Chile, the city of San Antonio is framed by the Andes Mountain Range and the Pacific Ocean. More than 125,896 of Chile’s 16 million inhabitants live there. San Antonio is 108 kilometres west of Santiago, the capital of Chile, and is linked to it by Ruta 78, known as the ‘Autopista del Sol’ (“Highway of the Sun”). The port, the main activity of San Antonio, is situated within a natural bay, together with related industries and services. The city is also home to activity in the small-scale fishing, gastronomy, agriculture, viticulture and summer tourism sectors. © Empresa portuaria San Antonio Chile has ten State-owned public ports. San Antonio is one of them. It handles 40% of the national cargo throughput.In 2015, San Antonio Port maintained its position as fourth biggest contributor to the State, registering earnings of USD$18.6 million, an amount surpassed only by Codelco (mining), Enap (petroleum) and Banco Estado (finance).It also maintained its position as most profitable public port, from amongst Chile’s ten public ports. 2015 saw it grow 7.7% on the previous year. Moving more than 17 million tonnes in 2015, San Antonio Port is the biggest port in Chile in terms of cargo throughput, and the only one in Chile with three concessioned terminals – Puerto Central, San Antonio Terminal Internacional (STI) and Puerto Panul. In 2015 it maintained its position as the sixth port in Latin America in terms of container transport, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC). It offers multipurpose services including container transport, bulk cargo and solid and liquid bulk operations.Located on the West Coast of Latin America, San Antonio Port enjoys assets commending it to Chile’s foreign trade including its strategic location – it is the closest port to the country’s main production and consumption centres – excellent transport links, a cooperation agreement to strengthen rail connectivity, favourable topographical conditions and many areas available to project port infrastructure growth and integration. The Port Today Together with the growth of international trade with Chile in recent decades, the importance of San Antonio as a port has continued to grow. Port activity is the main driver of the local economy, and its direct and indirect contribution to local GDP is estimated to reach 50%.In 2015, two of our three concessions made significant progress in their expansion plans. Puerto Central completed phase 1 of its 700 metres of new mooring stations on the Costanera Norte wharf. STI, meanwhile, is currently building an additional 130 metres of new mooring stations, bringing it to a total of 900 metres by…