DP World's Callao terminal just became the first on South America's entire west coast to move 2 million containers in a year — while 80 kilometers north, the $1.3 billion Chancay megaport has cut the Pacific crossing to Shanghai to 23 days.
Callao has been Lima's port since 1537, and it is having its best decade: the $400 million Bicentennial Pier opened in June 2024 stretched DP World's South Terminal past a kilometer of quay — capacity up 80%, three ultra-large ships at once — and the payoff came fast: 1.96 million TEU in 2024, then the 2 million milestone in 2025, a volume that equaled every Peruvian port combined just a decade ago. APM Terminals adds a further 1.1 million on the North Pier.
This is the machine behind Peru's food-export boom: 55.8% of the country's agricultural exports leave through Callao — the blueberries, grapes, avocados and mandarins that stocked the menu of the Lima you came to eat. Callao is also the cruise gateway: ships on South America circumnavigations and Pacific crossings dock at the port's cruise pier, a 40-minute transfer from Miraflores.
In November 2024, Presidents Xi and Boluarte inaugurated Chancay by video link: South America's first smart, green megaport, built and run by COSCO Shipping — four berths dredged to 17.8 meters, able to take 18,000-TEU ships no other South American port can host, at a designed million TEU a year rising to 1.5 million. The first vessel reached Shanghai in 23 days, roughly ten faster than the old routings through Mexico or Panama.
The stakes are continental: Chancay aims to redistribute cargo for Chile, Ecuador and Colombia, cut logistics costs by at least 20% and generate a projected $4.5 billion a year for Peru. For the visitor, its meaning is subtler: Lima's bay now sits on the shortest sea line between Asia and South America — the trade version of the same Pacific story that put Nikkei cuisine on your table.
Our read: you don't come to Lima for port tours — you come for what the port feeds. Read Callao's cranes from the terrace at Larcomar, then order the catch at a cevichería where lunch ends by 4 p.m. because the fish does. If you're on a South America cruise, treat the Callao call as a full Lima day — Miraflores and the historic center are both an easy transfer — and book the ship's shuttle or an arranged car; the port district itself is not for wandering.
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