Puerto Bolívar (Ecuador)
Coordinates: 3 ° 16 ′ S , 79 ° 59 ′ W
Puerto Bolívar is an Ecuadorian port city in the province of El Oro . Formally, Puerto Bolívar is an urban parish of the canton of Machala and as such an administrative unit belonging to this city, which has around 60,000 inhabitants.
The port is 7 km from Machala city center on the Gulf of Guayaquil on the Pacific coast . It is one of the most important shipping ports for bananas destined for Europe. About 80% of Ecuador's banana production is loaded here.
history
In 1883 the Ecuadorian government officially established the port of Puerto Huaylá and later named it after the independence fighter Simón Bolívar .
Since 1900 it was connected to Machala and Pasajes by a railway line. Despite repeated efforts, however, the connection of the railway line to the Guayaquil / Durán – Quito line failed.
On July 27, 1941, the port was captured by Peruvian paratroopers during the Peruvian-Ecuadorian War . This was the first time paratroopers were deployed in the Western Hemisphere .
Web links
- Port Authority of Puerto Bolívar (Spanish)