COSCO Shipping, one of the world’s largest shipping and logistics companies, is building a container port in Peru.
Overall, according to a U.S. congressional analysis, foreign infrastructure investment in Peru by China-linked companies has grown substantially since the 2010s, a trend accelerated by Peru’s accession to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure investment initiative in 2019.
As a result, several Chinese state-owned enterprises have obtained controlling stakes in a number of critical Peruvian infrastructure companies, including in large mining and electricity generation and distribution companies.
Of particular concern to U.S. officials, China’s state-owned COSCO Shipping is building a $3.6 billion container port near Lima.
COSCO Shipping
The same analysis reports that Peru has acknowledged U.S. concerns and has submitted some transactions with Chinese companies to antitrust review.
COSCO Shipping continues construction of a commercial port and industrial zone in Chancay, a fishing and agricultural town located 50 miles north of Peru’s capital Lima, which is supposed to be completed in 2024.
However, in May 2023, Peru’s public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation at the construction site, where a landslide damaged at least four houses near a tunnel and forced COSCO Shipping Ports Ltd. to halt construction.
Energy sector
Separately, in April 2023, Caixin Global reported that state-owned China Southern Power Grid Co. Ltd. will pay US$2.9 billion to acquire two local power suppliers in Peru from Italy’s Enel, pending regulatory approval.
Enel’s Peruvian subsidiary Enel Peru agreed to sell all the shares it owns in its energy distribution and supply subsidiary Enel Distribución Perú SAA and its energy services provider subsidiary Enel X Perú SAC to China Southern Power Grid Co. Ltd.
Peru’s National Society of Industries, a chamber of private companies, has expressed concern that by acquiring the two energy suppliers, Beijing could achieve a monopoly over Peru’s energy sector, especially in and around Lima, the capital, where the two energy companies supply electricity to more than half the population.