Ecuador's Manta port has invited three bidders to submit technical and economic bids for the concession of local container and multipurpose terminals.

The three teams bidding for the project are:

• France's Bolloré África Logistics,
• Peru's Cosmos Agencia Marítima and
• Neltume Marglobal consortium: Chile's Ultramar and Ecuador's Marglobal.

The port launched a call for pre-qualification with submissions to be done by February 3. But following a request for more time from interested companies, the port extended the deadline to February 28.

The Port of Manta, located on Ecuador's Pacific coast, is to be expanded through a 25-year, $300 million concession. The expansion will include repairs to the port's two international terminals as well as the dock for the industrial fishing fleet.

Dredging is also included in the project plans so as to increase the port's depth to 16 meters, allowing for the construction of a new deep water container terminal, capable of handling 600,000 TEU annually. The main part of the expansion will be the construction of a new quay of 350 meters.

This expansion falls under Ecuador's 25-year plan to revamp and modernize its ports to have the capacity for post-panamax ships.

Eight companies registered to participate in the onsite visit in December.

The original tendering process for the concession was launched in 2012 but it was canceled after no bids were submitted.