The Superintendency of Competition authorizes Boluda to purchase the tugboat CITI TUG

The Superintendency of Economic Competition (SCE) authorized the economic concentration operation through which the Spanish company BOLUDA TOWAGE LATAM S.L. acquires 100% of the shares of CITI TUG S.A., a company that provides port maritime towing services at the Balao Oil Terminal in Esmeraldas. The decision is contained in Resolution No. SCE-CRPI-24-2026, case file SCE-CRPI-24-2026, adopted by the First Instance Resolution Commission on September 15, 2026, and published in the Third Supplement No. 406 of the Official Registry on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, page 41.

The legal framework of the decision and the procedure

The case file was opened following report SCE-IGT-INCCE-2026-23, dated September 3, 2026, prepared by the National Superintendency for the Control of Economic Concentrations (INCCE), which concluded that the transaction was harmless and recommended its authorization pursuant to Article 21 of the Organic Law for the Regulation and Control of Market Power (LORCPM).

The CRPI took cognizance on September 7, 2026, and on September 11, it rectified the applicable term: since harmlessness had been concluded in Phase 1, it had ten days to resolve, rather than the previous sixty-day period. The Superintendent of Economic Competition, Hans Willi Ehmig Dillon, had also designated, through resolution SCE-DS-2026-46, the National Superintendent of Competition Advocacy as an additional commissioner to join the Commission.

Who is buying, whom, and in which market

BOLUDA TOWAGE LATAM S.L. is a Spanish company dedicated to maritime towing, salvage, freight transport, and logistics solutions internationally, with no direct or indirect operations in Ecuador. CITI TUG S.A. is an Ecuadorian company whose corporate purpose encompasses port operator and cargo logistics services, although its current activity is concentrated on vessel assistance in Balao.

The sellers of 100% of the share package are five companies:

• CITIKOLD-HOLDING S.A.S.
• EQUITYGAME S.A.S.
• GAMET S.A.S.
• UPGAME S.A.S.
• VALUCOR S.A.S.

The authority defined the relevant market as that of maneuvering services via port tugboats at the Balao Oil Terminal, which includes port towing, mooring and unmooring, berthing and unberthing, and the connection and disconnection of hoses. The analysis was based on the criterion that the service is tied to the specific terminal and on the regime of the Operations, Safety, Protection, and Control Regulations of the terminal, according to which the service is provided by the Superintendency of the Balao Oil Terminal (SUINBA) and, when the latter does not have vessels available, by an authorized port operator.

Thresholds, market structure, and harmlessness

The turnover in Ecuador of the operation, calculated with data from the 2025 fiscal year, was USD 7,845,931, below the threshold of USD 96,400,000 (200,000 Unified Basic Remunerations, with a UBR of 482 dollars for 2026). Notification was mandatory, however, due to market share: CITI TUG S.A. exceeds 30% of the relevant market measured by the number of maneuvers in 2025.

Additionally, DLEN S.A., PILOT TRANSPORT MARINE S.A., INLOGMAR S.A., OPSEP S.A., and SUINBA operate in the market. The HHI index stands at 2,681.03 points and the operation does not generate any variation in that indicator, as BOLUDA has no prior participation in Ecuador. The public version of the resolution hides individual shares and the exact number of maneuvers as they are confidential information.

With these elements, the Commission concluded that the transaction does not create, modify, or reinforce market power, does not eliminate an active competitor, does not add shares, and does not generate local vertical integration; therefore, it fits within the harmlessness indicator of Article 20.1 of the LORCPM Regulations and Article 31 of the Administrative Procedural Management Instructions, without proceeding to Phase 2. The resolution cites precedents from the European Commission (cases M.8330 – Maersk Line/HSDG and M.8120 – Hapag-Lloyd/United Arab Shipping Company) and from the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission of Papua New Guinea (C2025/59), relating to an acquisition by the Boluda Group.

Information reservation and signatures

The act is declared confidential and orders the preparation of its public version, the maintenance of the reservation of documentation previously qualified by the INCCE, and the submission of the text to the institutional website and the Official Registry. The resolution is signed by president Marcelo Ortega Rodríguez and commissioners Ingreed Cajas Torres, Marco Landázuri Álvarez, Miguel Cumbicus Jiménez —reporting commissioner— and Diego Zea Íñiguez; certified by the General Secretary, Jorge Marcelo Rojas Salazar.

The decision defines who controls a critical link for the operation of the Balao Oil Terminal, the exit point for Ecuadorian crude: the berthing and unberthing towage conditions the safety and timing of each vessel loading at that terminal. The change of control does not alter market shares for now, but leaves in the hands of an international operator with no prior presence in the country a service whose interruption directly affects the export chain.

Source: Official Registry, Third Supplement No. 406, Tuesday, November 10, 2026, p. 41 (official reference: SCE-CRPI-24-2026).