Antofagasta to Double Port Capacity with $45 Billion Investment

The Empresa Portuaria Antofagasta (Antofagasta Port Company) commemorated 28 years since the creation of the state-owned company, within the framework of Law N° 19,542 for the modernization of the Chilean port system. The occasion found the institution consolidating a stage of strategic infrastructure execution, marked by the expansion of the breakwater, whose first stone was laid in June of this year.

With an investment exceeding $45 billion and an extension of 65 linear meters, the project will reduce operational closures associated with swells by approximately 80% and will be executed without interrupting the facility's usual operations. The work is being carried out within the framework of a Programming Agreement with the Regional Government of Antofagasta, an alliance aimed at developing strategic infrastructure for the region.

The breakwater is part of a portfolio of strategic projects that also includes the La Negra Logistics Development Zone and the Portezuelo Anteport. In La Negra, Puerto Antofagasta has already completed a first stage of urbanization, is advancing in the tender process for land for the installation of new logistics operators, and is close to starting new complementary works, such as the access road and the truck rest area.

Added to this is the Portezuelo Anteport, a key extra-port infrastructure to organize flows and improve operational efficiency, which is preparing to advance towards its third stage of development. Together, these initiatives will allow the port's capacity to increase from the current 3.5 million annual tons to a potential of 7 million, responding to the growth of regional mining, the development of the lithium industry, new energies, foreign trade, and regional integration opportunities associated with the Bioceanic Corridor.

The General Manager of Empresa Portuaria Antofagasta, Carlos Escobar Olguín, highlighted that "Puerto Antofagasta plays a fundamental role in the productive activity of northern Chile and for the country's connectivity with international markets. Approximately 10% of the national FOB value is transferred through our facilities, which accounts for the magnitude of our operational, logistical, and strategic responsibility. This anniversary finds us strengthening critical infrastructure and projecting the port's contribution to the current and future development of Antofagasta and Chile."

According to the state-owned company, the progress of this project portfolio also opens opportunities for employment and the generation of productive linkages in the region, reinforcing the link between port growth and regional development.

During 2026, the company also began a new institutional stage with the installation of its board of directors, chaired by Rodrigo Saavedra Burgos and composed of Carolina Latorre Cruz and Sebastián Raveau Feliú. In terms of sustainability, the company received a new Organizational Excellence Seal from the HuellaChile Program, granted by the Ministry of the Environment, which recognizes a verifiable climate management trajectory developed since 2019.

According to the state-owned company, this sustained work was also reflected in the Regional Barometer Survey of the Public Policy Institute of the Universidad Católica del Norte, where Puerto Antofagasta led for the fourth consecutive year in the item of citizen trust among regional companies, a result that reaffirms a close management connected with community expectations.

28 years after its creation as a port company, Empresa Portuaria Antofagasta projected a new stage of growth based on strategic infrastructure, sustainability, and regional integration, consolidating its role as one of the main logistical and productive engines of northern Chile.