In Peru’s coastal desert, a small fishing town where many residents lack running water is being transformed into a major deep-water port. The Chinese shipping company Cosco led this $1.3 billion project, called the Chancay megaport. The port aims to capitalise on China’s growing interest in South America’s resources, turning this quiet town into a key player in the global economy.

China's President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart, Dina Boluarte, watched a livestream of the ribbon-cutting late Thursday from the presidential palace in Lima, 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of the port inauguration ceremony. In Chancay, a large screen showed the leaders' faces as engineers in bright orange safety vests announced that the port was officially open. String music played and Chinese dancers wearing red dragon costumes appeared and danced around the docking area. Meanwhile, a crane lowered the first aluminium containers onto a cargo ship waiting at the port.

“Considerable income and enormous job opportunities will be generated for Peru,” Xi asserted from Lima, where world leaders were gearing up to gather for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. “This will generate tangible results for the people of the region.” The development, which is planned to include 15 docks and a large industrial park with over $3.5 billion in investment over the next decade, has faced criticism from poor villagers. They say it’s taking away their fishing areas and isn’t providing any economic benefits to the local community.

“Our fishing spots no longer exist here. They destroyed them,” said 78-year-old fisherman Julius Caesar — “like the emperor of Rome” — gesturing toward the dockside cranes. “I don’t blame the Chinese for trying to mine this place for all it’s worth. I blame our government for not protecting us.” The Peruvian government wants the port to become a key hub for shipping goods in the region. This new route will connect South America to Asia, making it faster to trade items like Peru's blueberries, Brazil's soybeans, and Chile's copper. Officials believe the port could bring in millions of dollars in revenue and transform coastal cities into special economic zones, offering tax breaks to attract investment.

“We Peruvians are focused primarily on the well-being of Peruvians,” Elmer Schialer the foreign minister, told The Associated Press. However, many of the 60,000 people who live in Chancay are not convinced. Fishermen argue that they have already lost out when they return to port with lower catches. Fish breeding areas have been destroyed by the port's dredging, which removed material from the seabed to make a shipping canal that is 17 meters (56 feet) deep, according to locals. Rafael Ávila, a 28-year-old fisherman with sand in his hair, stated, "I've been out in the water all day and I'm always needing to venture farther," as he returned to shore fatigued and without anything. He pointed to his decorated dinghy and remarked, "This used to be enough."

“Now I need a larger, more expensive boat to reach the fish.”To earn extra money, Ávila began offering occasional joyrides to visitors who wanted to take selfies while seeing the massive Chinese ships. With some of the world’s largest container ships set to dock at Chancay Port in January 2025, locals are worried about the potential pollution and oil spills that might come with them. In 2022, a mishandled tanker delivery at the La Pampilla refinery caused thousands of barrels of crude oil to spill into Peru’s rich marine environment, killing many fish and leaving many fishermen without work. Today, the town centre, which is mostly empty and has seafood restaurants that are barely open, reflects the impact of the lost fishing and tourism, especially with the port still not in use.

According to residents, the port's breakwater altered the currents and ruined fantastic surfing conditions, which had an impact on everyone from truckers to restaurant owners to ice vendors. “No to the megaport” is spray-painted on a wall overlooking the waterfront. As she cleaned and gutted slimy drum fish on the coast, 40-year-old Rosa Collantes declared, "This port is a monster that's come here to screw us." "When people visit the port, they exclaim, 'Wow, tremendous!' but they fail to see the reality." Port officials claim to be aware of the sharp contrast between the slick, contemporary port and the nearby town of Chancay, where many people reside on dirt roads that are dotted with dilapidated shacks and trash.

Mario de las Casas, a manager for Cosco in Chancay, stated that the company had already started research to find out how the port could help lessen inequality and promote local development. "You cannot build a state-of-the-art port and have a city next to it that has no drinking water, no sewage, a collapsing hospital, and no educational centres," he said. “The port should not be a blemish,” De las Casas said.