Venezuela River Terminals

completed

The Riverside Terminal project comprises the development of two floating dock facilities (a ship dock and a barge dock) for public use in order to serve the industrial zone of Ciudad Guayana. The floating barge terminal of the Riverside project started operations in late 1999 and is currently being operated by ACBLV. Once completed, the terminal will provide dependable ship and barge loading/unloading facility with warehousing and logistics for the industrial zone located around the facility. The terminal will handle bulk, break bulk and containerized cargo. The Riverside project includes: (i) purchase of 24.9 hectares of land, (ii) purchase of barges to serve as dock, (iii) purchase of handling equipment, and (iv) development of related infrastructure.The GMSV project involves a floating barge unloading terminal for unloading of bauxite transported by barges from CVGB’s mine in El Jobal to its alumina production plant in Ciudad Guayana. GMSV will sign a five-year take-or-pay contract with CVGB for unloading a minimum of 4.6 million tons of bauxite annually. The GMSV project includes: (i) purchase of barges needed for the floating dock, (ii) purchase and installation of two equilibrium cranes (E-Cranes) and (iii) purchase and installation of a conveyer system to connect to the existing conveyer system of CVGB. The proposed projects would help to relieve the port congestion problems in the area by providing efficient cargo handling services. Consequently, the proposed IFC investment would help to: (i) reduce the cost of transportation and thereby benefit shippers, shipping lines and consumers alike; (ii) encourage competing facilities in the region to increase their efficiency and, therefore, serve as a catalyst for increased trading activity in the region as a result of reduced costs; and, (iii) create additional employment for the region and bring about upgrading of workers'' skills. IFC will bring to this project financing at a tenor and interest rate which is essential for this project but not available from other sources. IFC will play a key role in creating an appropriate financial structure for the project. Given IFC''s experience of financing port projects around the world, IFC involvement in this venture would also encourage another multilateral institution to participate in the financing.