The Sociedad Puerto Industrial De Aguadulce (SPIA) terminal in Buenaventura, Colombia, celebrated its opening with an official ceremony. More than 400 guests were present at the launch event which was graced by the President of the Republic of Colombia, Mr Juan Manuel Santos, among others.

Developed as a joint venture terminal between International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) and PSA International (PSA) at a cost of over $500 million, SPIA started operations with the handling of its first container vessel in November 2016. The new terminal aims to set new standards in cargo security and productivity.

Mr Juan Manuel Santos said: "SPIA (Puerto Aguadulce) is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Colombia, in one of the key city ports of the country. Thanks to this huge investment from the Asian partners ICTSI and PSA, the container handling capacity will increase significantly. This will allow Colombian importers and exporters to reach out to a greater destination network at better conditions."

SPIA features state-of-the-art technology and equipment, which enables it to serve mega container vessels with capacity of up to 18,000 TEUs. Under the first phase of its development, the terminal operates two container berths and has an annual handling capacity of 550,000 TEUs. In addition, it operates a bulk terminal with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year, highlighted a release.