EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW – Gestión. What investments does DP World's division, which offers comprehensive foreign trade solutions, have planned? Details below.
With the concession extension, DP World will allocate US$250 million to a toll-free foreport
One of the main challenges for the logistics chain this year is the El Niño phenomenon, which creates uncertainty in the agro-export sector and could reduce shipments from the north of the country.
This scenario poses challenges for DP World Logistics, a division of DP World that offers comprehensive solutions for the supply chain and foreign trade, from the origin of the cargo to its final destination. While the agro-export sector is one of its main clients, especially in the north, the company seeks to offset the impact of reduced activity by boosting services related to imports. In an exclusive interview with Gestión, Luis Lituma, General Manager of DP World Logistics, details the challenges facing the operation and the company's investment plans.
What is your assessment of DP World Logistics' performance in the first half of 2026?
2026 is proving to be a challenging year due to market conditions and the El Niño phenomenon. Peru, in addition to being an agro-exporting country, has two other major export categories: minerals and seafood products, such as fishmeal, squid, and frozen fish. We have a significant presence in both agro-exports and the fishmeal and frozen fish segments.
However, we have been working to develop other sectors. In this regard, we have promoted services related to import cargo. We are one of the main empty container depots in Peru and offer transportation services, customs brokerage, and documentary management. Additionally, we have our own and third-party warehouses, work with cold chambers, and have incorporated the freight forwarding division (management and coordination of goods transport).
How is the El Niño phenomenon affecting the projections for the agro-export campaign?
Lower export volumes are expected in the north compared to a scenario without the El Niño phenomenon. The estimated reduction is around 10%. The uncertainty primarily affects agro-exporters. From our position as a logistics operator and empty container depot, the situation is different: we provide services to shipping lines, receive their containers, prepare them for refrigerated cargo, wash them, adjust the temperature, and dispatch them to agro-exporters.
At this point in the year, in Paita, there is normally already a significant number of containers positioned and ready for the start of the campaign. However, this year the number is lower due to the uncertainty generated by the El Niño phenomenon. Therefore, it is not that planning is necessarily more complex, but rather that the variables are different. The campaign in the north is expected to be less pronounced, without such a marked peak, and agro-exporters are doing their best to advance their harvests to avoid the rains.
What are your expectations for the second half of the year?
The second half will be very challenging for the industry because the main agro-export campaigns, especially those for grapes and blueberries, two of our flagship products, begin in the latter part of the year.
DP World Logistics seeks to compensate for this scenario by focusing on other industries and activities, such as containerized vehicle import services and serving sectors like retail and supermarkets. In this way, we aim to mitigate the impact on our operations and goals.
What trends are you observing in the import segment?
Imports in Peru continue to grow at stable rates for several years. Currently, we are seeing a boom in car imports, including vehicles that previously did not arrive as frequently in this type of operation.
Traditionally, automobiles were transported in so-called car carriers, specialized vessels for vehicle transport. However, for some years now, due to international market factors, such as the high prices of these vessels and the competitive rates of container transport, we are seeing a boom in automobiles arriving in containers.
What services does DP World Logistics offer to meet this demand?
Chinese automotive factories, in particular, have found efficiencies in transporting vehicles in containers. Depending on the model, between two and four automobiles can be transported in a 40-foot container. These containers travel on regular vessels, allowing shipments to be made more efficiently, without having to gather large quantities of vehicles to organize a dispatch and with the possibility of serving them in different ports.
Currently, DP World Callao receives automobiles in containers. We offer Peruvian importers sea freight from Asia, unloading of containers, and their transfer to our warehouses in Callao. There, we store the vehicles and, according to the client's needs, take them to the operations area to remove them and deconsolidate the containers. Then, the automobiles are organized in a rack system and stored in yards, from where clients pick them up with car carrier trucks to distribute them to their stores or warehouses.
How much has this business grown, and what are its prospects?
It is a segment that began to develop approximately three years ago, shortly after the pandemic. Since then, the number of containers we handle in this activity has doubled year after year.
Will DP World Logistics continue to offer charter flights for the agro-export sector during the second half of the year?
Yes. It is a service we offer as part of our value proposition and which we will continue to develop to support our clients. We continue to receive requests for charter flights and will participate in these operations, as we have been doing.
How many charter flights are planned, and what will their contracting depend on?
For now, we do not have a confirmed number of flights. The increase in fuel prices has a significant impact on the cost of charters, which is currently more than 50% higher than in previous years.
Contracting depends heavily on international prices. Transporting cargo via charter flights is usually more expensive than doing so through a commercial port. Therefore, it depends on market conditions and the opportunities clients seek to take advantage of to reach their destinations faster and transport larger volumes.
Luis Lituma, General Manager of DP World Logistics. Photo: DP World Logistics
DP World Logistics Investments
What plans does DP World Logistics have for its logistics facility in Lurín?
Currently, we have a facility in Lurín that is not operating. We have three locations in Paita (Piura) and five in Callao, where we are concentrating our expansion efforts. In the case of Lurín, we seek to link its operation to the needs of a client. We are evaluating different projects to offer storage, consolidation, or deconsolidation services, according to market requirements, just as we do in our other locations.
This facility was previously used for cargo storage, as a container yard, and for the consolidation and deconsolidation of equipment. At the time, it also handled certain cargo flows, which changed when our clients modified their logistics. Therefore, we are evaluating new opportunities to develop that space and expand our storage and distribution capabilities.
What do the investments you are making in Callao and Paita consist of?
In Callao, from the perspective of container yards, we have doubled our operating areas in the last five years. We believe that logistics capabilities should be developed long-term and progressively, not only when demand skyrockets and congestion problems appear, as happened some years ago. We have been constantly investing to expand our capacity and continue to meet market needs.
In Paita (Piura), we are working on the development of an additional 80,000 square meters (m²). This expansion is part of a three-year project, called Paita 2, with which we seek to approximately double the total area we operate as an empty container depot in that port.
How will the expansion of the container depot in Paita be developed?
We are executing the project in stages to manage capital requirements, investments, and deadlines, especially considering that this year there is a possibility of rains that could affect the work. As the agro-export campaign begins strongly in October, we are working until next month and then will pause during the campaign, until probably March or April of next year, when we will resume the works.
In Paita, we have two own facilities: a main depot of 80,000 m² and another of 200,000 m². In this second facility, until a year ago, we had almost 60,000 m² developed. This year we are developing an additional 80,000 m² and, after next year's agro-export campaign, we will install reefer towers to expand our dispatch and customer service capacity. We will also develop new areas to meet the growth of the agro-export market.
Paita is a port primarily linked to agro-exports and one of the areas of the country where products such as blueberries, grapes, and mangoes are growing the most.
How much will DP World Logistics invest in developing this space in Paita?
The planned investment is approximately US$6 million for this facility. The work includes pavement, electrical installations, lighting, wiring, and internet connection, in addition to specific work areas, pumps, and generators. All of this must be enabled to put the space into operation.
What is DP World Logistics' objective for expanding its storage capacity in Lima?
Currently, we have our own warehouses in Callao, where we have a logistics center of approximately 90,000 m², from which we offer storage and distribution services. Our goal is to continue expanding these capabilities to support our clients.
We are evaluating alternatives both north of Callao, in the Ventanilla area, and south of Lima, in Lurín and other logistics parks. The decision will depend on the needs of each client. We do not seek to impose a solution simply because we have available land, but rather to offer the most efficient alternative depending on how their logistics chain is developed.
For now, we have around 26,000 storage positions in Callao. We are working with our commercial team on opportunities to expand that capacity, both in the northern and southern areas of Lima, based on the requirements of different clients.
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How much do you expect to expand your storage capacity over the next two years?
Our goal is to expand storage capacity by 10,000 to 15,000 positions in the next two years. We are evaluating different opportunities to achieve this growth, both in the northern Callao area and in southern Lima, according to the needs of our clients.
What are DP World Logistics' perspectives on the Peruvian logistics market?
It is important to highlight that the market in Peru is expected to double in the next 10 years. As DP World, we want to accompany that growth and, therefore, we are investing in expanding our capabilities to meet the future needs of the market.
