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DP World started testing in the new port of Posorja with 359 employees
Posted On 14 Jun 2019
Ecuadornews:
Posorja –
Sitting in a swivel chair, 45 meters high, it has a complete panorama of the port and the ships that sail along the coast of Posorja. His job is in one of the cabins of the huge gantry cranes of the deepwater port that DP World will start operating from August 2.
The manabita Érika Macías, 34, is one of four women who have been prepared to operate those cranes, the largest that a port in South America will have.
These days he is in practice, just like his teammates. Test the system with which you will have to load and unload the containers of the ships that will enter the 400 meter pier. There they will be able to enter post-Panamax ships of 333 to 398 meters of length. One at a time, in this first phase.
With the help of screens that project the images of several ‘blind’ points and the huge stained glass windows that are on the floor and that serve to visualize the operation, Macías will move the loads. In the following days a barge with containers will enter to make this essay more real.
She settled down to live in Posorja since DP World offered her the position. He had previously operated motor graders and rollers, an activity he learned from his brother and father.
Those who will be in charge of the wharf and yard cranes were six weeks in preparation in Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Peru, where DP World has port terminals.
Carlos Sánchez, a native of Posorja, is part of that group. He worked as a forklift operator in a fishing industry before arriving at DP World. “I did not know that these cranes existed, but it’s a challenge to handle them,” he says excitedly.
The port until this week had a 93% advance and expects to be ready by mid-July. DP World has hired up to now 359 collaborators, of the 515 that it plans to have at the beginning of its activities. The trainings are underway, while on different fronts the work to complete the works is streamlined.
Jorge Velázquez, manager of DP World, says that they expect that 65% of the employees of the operative part will be from the populations of influence to the Posorja parish.
The executive of Venezuelan origin, who worked in ports in the United States and Africa, says that from July 25 will begin to receive the first containers that will be for export.
The capacity of the port is projected to receive annually 750,000 teus (capacity of a container of 20 feet). From August to December they expect to conclude with 78,000 teus. “It will increase as we close negotiations with the shipping lines,” he says.
Bananas, shrimp and cocoa would be the first products that will start operations, which will start with a route called Eurosal, which covers the west coast of South America and goes to Europe.
As the operation of this port approaches, in nearby towns like El Morro there is expectation. William Consuegra, president of the Parish Council of that town, says that they hope the port will allow them to grow in commerce and tourism, since the new road -of about 20 km- that leads to the terminal allows access to El Morro. He points out that they will insist that the Prefecture fix about 3 kilometers of the road that would be missing from the entrance to El Morro to Puerto El Morro, which is one of its attractions. (I)
