China Banks On Peru Port To Boost Latin American Trade

The $3.5-billion Chancay, Peru deep water port, set to start operations late this year, will provide China with a direct gateway to the resource-rich region, according to Marco Aquino and Adam Jourdan for Reuters.

The port, majority-owned by Chinese state-owned firm Cosco Shipping, will be the first controlled by China in South America. I Photo: COSCO SHIPPING Lines

The port, majority-owned by Chinese state-owned firm Cosco Shipping, will be the first controlled by China in South America.

It will be able to accommodate the largest cargo ships, which can head directly to Asia, cutting the journey time by two weeks for some exporters.

Beijing and Lima hope Chancay will become a regional hub, both for copper exports from the Andean nation as well as soy from western Brazil, which currently travels through the Panama Canal or skirts the Atlantic before steaming to China.

"The Chancay mega port aims to turn Peru into a strategic commercial and port hub between South America and Asia," Peru's trade minister Juan Mathews Salazar told Reuters.

Part of China's decade-old 'Belt and Road' drive, the new port embodies the challenge facing the United States and Europe as they look to counter Beijing's rising influence in Latin America. China's trade muscle has helped it win allies and gain leverage in political forums, finance, and technology.

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