The operator of the terminal in Guatemala has announced plans to invest $50 million, increasing the terminal's capacity from 455,000 to 630,000 TEUs in 2019.
Chiquita, the concessionaire of Puerto Barrios, plans to increase by 1 million TEUs the total capacity of the terminal in a second and third expansion phase in the period 2025-2035.
Expanding moorings in Gamboa on the Atlantic side, continuing construction of the third bridge over the canal, and building another on the mouth of the Chagres River are some of the works planned for 2017.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP by its initials in Spanish) will have a budget of $2.8 billion to manage in 2017, and among the projects which are to be completed is finishing"...
At the end of the year-end a $30 million tender will be published to build a cruise ship port in an area measuring 30 hectares in Perico Island, on the Amador Causeway.
In addition to construction of the port, the tender specifications include the design and construction of commercial spaces to provide services for the terminal's operation, in an area of 11 hectares.The Maritime Port Authority estimates a total investment of $30 million, which is already included in the 2017 budget, and expects the construction process to take between 12 and 18 months.
Maersk Group has announced that once it signs the new concession contract it plans to expand the capacity of the container terminal in order to go from transporting 250,000 TEUs to 600,000 TEUs.
Susanne Marston, representative of APM Terminals, told Diario de Centroamerica that among the company's plans is improving conditions at the terminal, investing $80 million in expanding capacity for container management.
Maersk Group subsidiary have agreed to indemnify the state $43 million and sign a new concession contract in order to operate the Quetzal Container Terminal.
The agreement suggested by the auditor of the Quetzal Container Terminal (TCQ by its initials in Spanish), Alexander Aizenstatd, must be approved by the Guatemalan Congress.
The terminal was taken over, in early June, after the Public Ministry revealed the existence of indications that the terminal was operating an illegal network for laundering money and other assets.
In order to take advantage of the connectivity offered by the Canal and its strategic location, the rules for logistics and port industries must be improved and modernized.
The infrastructure and technology is in place, but a better legal framework is needed in order to take advantage of the connectivity and advantages of the Canal and the location of Panama in the Latin American region.
Dutch businesspeople in logistics and maritime development are analyzing new investment opportunities in light of the expanded canal.
The interest of the Dutch company APM Terminals in participating in the tender to build a port in Corozal is in addition to several other companies of Dutch origin who plan to take full advantage of the new opportunities provided by the logistics and maritime sector in the coming years.
The concessionaire said it will invest between $150 million in the first phase of the project, building an additional 350 meters of quays and acquiring two super-post-Panamax cranes.
And in a second phase Operadora Portuaria Central (OPC) plans to invest between $100 and $130 million in the construction of 200 meters of quay with a depth of 14 meters to allow the passage of larger ships, four more Super postpanamax cranes, and 10 hectares of container yard.The first phase could start in early 2017 and could be ready in 2018, said Valmir Araujo, senior commercial manager of the OPC.
While the movement of cargo imports and exports grows, the port of Quetzal has kept the same amount of docking areas as it had 30 years ago.
Businesses are complaining about saturation at the docks at Puerto Quetzal, which has reached 72%.
An article on Elsalvador.com reports that "... Cargo movement of imports and exports increased and national ports are very saturated, said Maria Lucia Soto, executive director of the Council of International Transport Users of Guatemala (Cutrigua). "
As soon as the third set of locks starts operating, the Canal Authority plans to develop logistics and industrial projects in the thousand hectares located west of the waterway, near the former Rodman base.
Building a roll-on roll-of port, an industrial area and an area to store refrigerated cargo are part of the recommendations that Antea Group made to the Panama Canal Authority, after it requested a study to determine the feasibility of developing the area. The main objective of the Panama Canal Authority is to take advantage of the expansion of the road and increase its value, providing complementary services to local and multinational companies.
The Inter-American Development Bank has announced that it will provide a loan of $20 million to fund feasibility studies for a port in the Caribbean.
The funds provided by the entity will be used for studies needed to determine the characteristics of the area, the exact location and cost of building the infrastructure, as well as any possible environmental impact on the coast of Bluefields.
The Public Ministry of Guatemala has announced that its investigations have shown that a network of illicit laundering of money and other assets operated in the port terminal.
Consideration is being given to canceling the contract with the concessionaire Container Terminal Spanish Quetzal after the denouncement that it paid bribes to Perez Molina for the award of the terminal.
The port authority will receive bids until May 23 for the tender, once again, of the design, construction, operation and maintenance of Aguadulce port.
The Panama Maritime Authority tried to tender last year the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a port terminal in Aguadulce, Cocle province. However, although there were 19 companies interested in the project, the tender was declared void because none of them formalized a proposal.
Local businessmen have announced that there are already studies on a plot of land measuring 2,500 m2 to build an international terminal in the northern Honduran Caribbean.
The private organization known as Oficina de Proyecto e Inversiones (IPO) plans to build an international airport in the city of Trujillo, capital of Colón, in the northern Honduran Caribbean.
The area in the Pacific entrance to the Canal could be leased by the State for the construction and operation of logistics infrastructure such as warehouses, cold storage facilities, ship repairs and a port for vehicles.
The 1,200 hectares owned by the State and "discovered" after cleaning and dredging of the areas surrounding the Canal expansion are part of a development plan that the Ministry of Affairs of the Canal is preparing to start when the new locks come into operation. The initial proposal is to lease the land to private companies so that they can develop the area, providing logistics services, transportation and communications to related industries.