The Port of Guayaquil (TPG), operated by Chilean company SAAM, has added a new service to its operations with the line Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

The news MSC Feeder Guayaquil/Balboa service is mainly slated for refrigerated exports of bananas, adding extra capacity to load 50,000 more boxes of the fruit.

"With this new service we're expanding our product supply, to the benefit of our customers and commercial exchange in Guayaquil," said TPG managing director Enrique Brito.

"We are working heavily on diversifying our cargo and the services we offer so that we can continue to position ourselves as an efficient alternative for exporting products from Ecuador."

SAAM has a 40-year concession that started in 2006 at the port, located at the foot of the Estero Santa Ana on Trinitaria Island, a suburb in the city of Guayaquil.

The main products traded from the port are shipped in containers, including exports of bananas, shrimp, cacao, wood, fishmeal and metals.

In 2015 the port moved 2.275 million metric tons (MT) of products.

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