WASHINGTON: Chile’s ten publicly-owned ports boosted traffic by 4.3% in 2016. Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Valparaíso, San Antonio, Talcahuano-San Vicente, Puerto Montt, Chacabuco and Punta Arenas (Austral) handled a combined 45.07m tonnes last year, compared to 43.21m in 2015. San Antonio (18,21m tonnes) was the busiest, and increased traffic by 4.62%. Valparaíso, which saw a 1.5% decrease to 10.19m, was not the only port to register a downturn in traffic, since the 827,511 handled by Empormontt, was also down, by 4.24%.
Antofagasta showed the largest growth, boosting throughput by 20.24% to 2,75m tonnes. Nevertheless, of the northern ports, Arica remain the most important, handling 3.09m tonnes last year, up 0.72%, while Iquique grew by 6.98% to 2.21m tonnes. Coquimbo (829,675 tonnes) was up 13.15%. In the south, Talcahuano-San Vicente grew by 10.04% to 6,187,388.
