Despite facing a variety of problems, revolutionary port reform has been sweeping South American ports in the past few years, Sid Cass, assistant editor of British-based Cargo Systems, says.
Speaking at the Asia Ports '98 conference, he said these ports still lacked the sophistication of most ports in Asia, but were in the process of upgrading.
'The private operators know what they are doing and they have the money,' he said. They also had the skills to adapt technology.
Mr Cass said the region's ports hardly had been touched by the Asian economic crisis and were being wooed by several international players, both political and commercial.
One of the interested parties is Hutchison Whampoa, which is carrying out a feasibility study through its subsidiary Hongkong International Terminals.
It already has interests at both ends of the Panama Canal in Balboa and Cristobal, and also has container port investments on Grand Bahama Island.
