Transcontinental corridor will cross Antofagasta region

President Gabriel Boric presented Chile’s action plan for the Bioceanic Road Corridor on April 14, 2025, putting official backing behind a route that would connect Brazil to northern Chile’s Pacific ports through Paraguay and Argentina. The Chilean government said the road link will cross the regions of Tarapacá and Antofagasta and form part of a wider corridor joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Chile’s plan describes the route as more than 2,400 kilometers from Campo Grande in Brazil to the ports of Antofagasta, Iquique and Mejillones. A separate corridor website maintained for the Capricorn Bioceanic Corridor says the broader network covers 3,250 kilometers across four countries and eight subnational territories. ### Which places does the corridor actually cross? The Capricorn Bioceanic Corridor website lists eight territories on the route: Tarapacá and Antofagasta in Chile, Jujuy and Salta in Argentina, Boquerón, Presidente Hayes and Alto Paraguay in Paraguay, and Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. The same site says the corridor is designed to connect Brazil’s center-west to northern Chile’s ports by crossing the Paraguayan Chaco and northwestern Argentina. (gob.cl) Diario Uno reported this week that the route’s subnational footprint matches those eight territories and said the project regained momentum after the pandemic, when the regions formalized an alliance in 2022 through the Declaration of Campo Grande in Brazil. The outlet said the initiative’s political push dates to the 2015 Declaration of Asunción on bioceanic corridors, while its earlier origins go back decades. (corredorbioceanico.org) ### Why is Antofagasta part of the route? Antofagasta appears in both Chile’s national plan and the corridor’s own project materials as one of the Pacific gateways for cargo. The Chilean government said the route will end at ports in the country’s “Norte Grande,” naming Antofagasta, Iquique and Mejillones. The corridor website also lists four Pacific port systems: Iquique, Antofagasta, ports in Mejillones and terminals in Tocopilla. (diariouno.com.ar) Ricardo Díaz Cortés, governor of the Antofagasta region, said in December 2025 that the corridor’s start would depend on completing the bridge between Brazil and Paraguay and on building non-road logistics infrastructure in Antofagasta. Díaz said the region also needed faster customs and cargo inspection processes with national governments. (gob.cl) ### How far along is Chile’s side? Chile’s action plan includes 22 strategic road projects tied to the corridor, according to the government announcement published on April 14, 2025. The same plan includes improvements to port access, a proposed dry-port system, and a new inspection site near Paso Jama to strengthen border controls and speed freight movement. Álvaro García, Chile’s economy and energy minister, led the latest high-level commission session on January 16, 2026, and the ministry said the meeting reviewed progress on the route to the Pacific through Antofagasta and Tarapacá. (portalportuario.cl) The Foreign Ministry said the same session laid out the next steps for implementing the project. (gob.cl) ### What is still unresolved? A February 2026 Chilean follow-up document said reliable estimates of future cargo flows and cargo types remain difficult to obtain and require deeper demand modeling and market analysis. That leaves a basic question — how much freight will use the corridor and under what economics — still under study even as governments advance road, port and border projects. (economia.gob.cl) The Inter-American Development Bank says a regional master plan for the corridor is meant to define a common program of actions on trade facilitation, infrastructure and territorial development. A separate IDB project page says the bank has approved a $200 million loan for a key section in Paraguay, where the program is meant to improve road transport and facilitate international trade in the corridor’s area of influence. ### What should readers watch next? (economia.gob.cl) June 2026 is one date regional officials have pointed to. Díaz said in December 2025 that cargo could begin moving once the Brazil-Paraguay bridge is inaugurated that month, while Chile’s ministries continue to track the 22 projects, port-access works and border measures tied to Antofagasta and Tarapacá. (portalportuario.cl) (iadb.org)