The San Antonio Outer Port project in Chile, the country's largest port infrastructure initiative, has prequalified three international companies for its international tender, which involves constructing a nearly 4-km breakwater, dredging, creating backup areas, building access roads, and implementing environmental measures.

Three global companies—Van Oord (Netherlands), Jan de Nul (Belgium), and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC, China)—have been prequalified for the tender. The project, driven by the Chilean State through the San Antonio Port Company, progressed in 2024 with an Expression of Interest phase, followed by the tender’s prequalification stage starting in January 2025. This stage involved the sale of bidding documents, finalized on August 15, and registration in the Exterior Port Registry, completed by August 31. 

The Puerto Exterior project involves building a nearly 4-km-long breakwater and two semi-automated terminals, each spanning 1,730 meters, capable of handling up to eight 400-meter vessels—the largest currently in operation—simultaneously. When fully operational, the port will manage 6 million TEUs annually, equivalent to approximately 60 million tons of cargo. The project includes a comprehensive investment plan estimated at USD 4.45 billion, of which USD 1.95 billion will be contributed by the San Antonio Port Company for the construction of breakwaters, basin generation, backup areas, and access roads, in addition to environmental mitigation and compensation measures. The remaining USD 2.5 billion will be contributed by the private sector, through port concessions, for the construction, development, and operation of the sites. Puerto Exterior will begin operating its first phase, with 865 meters of dock, around 2036, adding an available capacity of 1.5 million TEUs annually, thus consolidating Puerto San Antonio as a strategic hub in the South Pacific and in the large-scale port network of Latin America and the Caribbean.