A Peruvian appeals court has restored state oversight of Cosco’s Chancay port, reversing a lower-court ruling that had restricted the authority of transport infrastructure regulator Ositrán over the privately owned terminal, according to Ositrán, Peru’s transport infrastructure regulator.
The Second Constitutional Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Lima revoked the first-instance decision and declared inadmissible an amparo action filed by Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Perú S.A. against Ositrán.
The ruling restores Ositrán’s power to regulate, supervise, inspect and sanction the Terminal Portuario Multipropósito de Chancay, a deepwater port project near Lima controlled by Cosco.
The court found that Ositrán was acting within powers granted under Peruvian law and that its actions did not constitute a certain and imminent threat to Cosco’s fundamental rights, the threshold required for an amparo claim.
The chamber also held that Chancay is public-use transport infrastructure, despite being privately owned. That finding places the port operator under the category of an “entidad prestadora”, or service provider, and within Ositrán’s oversight framework.
The decision overturns a January judgment that had ordered Ositrán to refrain from exercising oversight over the port’s operations. Cosco had argued that the private terminal was not subject to the regulator’s authority in the same way as concession-based port infrastructure.
Chancay’s first phase was inaugurated in November 2024 during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima. The first phase involved a $1.4bn investment and was designed to handle the largest vessels on South America’s Pacific coast.
Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Perú S.A. is the Peruvian project company operating the Chancay terminal. Cosco Shipping Ports Limited is a port terminal operator within the China Cosco Shipping corporate group and acquired a 60% stake in the Chancay port company in 2019.