El Salvador's local press reports that four companies submitted on October 7th statements of qualification for the concession of La Unión port container terminal.

Saam Puertos S.A. (Chile), Grup Maritim TCB (Spain), Bolloré Ports and Logistics (France) and International Container Terminal Services Inc.(Philippines) submitted qualification documents.

Carlos Paredes, interim manager of CEPA, informed that results of this first stage will be public on October 21th. Then a final bid stage will be opened.

Construction of the port finished in 2008 and cost US$186 million.

The concession project includes Phase I, which comprises an area of over 32 hectares, a berth of 560 meters, and another berth of 340 meters. The concession does not include extra areas, the access channels, navigational aids and administrative buildings (all of these are to be operated by the State).

Estimated cost of investment in the first five years is of US$30 million (approx.).