Santa Marta Port

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The Colombian government in 1991 offered private companies 20-year concessions to upgrade, administer and operate ports. Proceeds from the concessions were used to create a pension fund for public-sector port workers. As of December 1993, the Colombian ports were given in concession to newly formed, private, regional companies, known as Asociedades Portuarias Regionales with each company being 70% private capital, 15% owned by the local municipality, 13% by the regional authority and just 2% by the state. Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coastline, was the first port to complete this process. The privatization was authorized by Law 1A of 1991, which envisioned the creation of regional entities to operate the ports. Santa Marta operates 7 multipurpose cargo berths and achieved a throughput of 3,100,000 tons of cargo in 1997, effectively almost doubling the pre-privatization throughput. In 1998, the sponsors undertook a US$ 125 million expansion of the coal-exporting terminal. In May, Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Santa Marta SA signed a 20 year extension with the Colombian government agency INCO and committed to investing an additional US $128 million.