In the last five years, the Honduran maritime terminal has gone from moving 20 to 40 containers per hour, and the average service time per truck has fallen from 120 to 40 minutes.
According to the representatives of the Central American Port Operator (PPO), the concessionaire of the maritime terminal since 2013, have had to make investments in different areas of the port to increase its operational capabilities.
After investing close to $240 million, the Central American Port Operator has started operations at pier number 6 of the Honduran maritime terminal.
See statement from the Presidency of Honduras.
Puerto Cortés, September 21."Pier number 6 is on its way to making Puerto Cortés the leader of the region and the Caribbean," said President Juan Orlando Hernandez today when inaugurating the work, which represents a major step in the modernization of these port facilities.
With the aim of attracting companies from El Salvador, the two operators of the Atlantic ports in Honduras and Guatemala are working on modernizing their infrastructure.
Representatives from the Central American Port Operator (OPC by its initials in Spanish) of Puerto Cortés, in Honduras, explained that due to inefficient processes and high costs, they have lost a lot of cargo from El Salvador in recent years.
The works include the construction of 350 additional meters of quay, dredging the channel to obtain a depth of 14.5 meters and the implementation of two new super post Panamax gantry cranes.
From a statement issued by the President of Honduras:
Puerto Cortes, 12 January.The construction of container quay number six in Puerto Cortes was launched today by President Juan Orlando Hernández with the laying of the foundation stone for this work, which will cost 148 million dollars, in a first stage.
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.
The concessionaire of the Honduran terminal plans to invest $40 million this year in repair of dock 5, repaving works, and construction of a new logistics area.
With the construction of a new logistics zone in the terminal the concessionaire Operadora Portuaria Centroamericana (OPC) aims to improve the service for loading and unloading of merchandise and "... give better services to users."
Clearing a container through customs can take up to 14 days and the extra costs for surcharges which apply after a third day can exceed $600.
An article on Laprensa.hn reports that "...Of those 14 days, only about 11 will be spent waiting, first for the cargo to be inspected and after for a diagnosis to be made, or because of the delay added due to days when customs officers from the now liquidated Executive Directorate of Revenue ( DEI) have taken off in order to migrate to the Revenue Management System (SAR). "
While the epic speeches on a regional maritime traffic sound crazy, Puerto Cortes is rationally emerging as the hub port in the North Central Triangle .
The port terminal, announcing an increase in productivity of 90% through the modernization of the container and general cargo terminal, aims to be the hub for cargo coming from North America and cargo destined for Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Exporters are complaining because customs clearance procedures at the port terminal which used to be completed in three days now take 20.
Ever since Operadora Portuaria Centroamericana assumed control of operation of the cargo terminal at Puerto Cortes, the processes for inspections and unloading have delayed goods by considerably more days than before, raising costs for exporters and importers, who have to wait up to 20 days to take their products out of the port.
The aim is to optimize the entry and exit of cargo at the container terminal where there have been long lines and delays in procedures.
After some problems arose last week, executives from Operadora Portuaria de Centroamérica (OPC) pledged to streamline the procedures for the entry and exit of cargo at Empresa Nacional Portuaria.
Mariano Torres, director of operations at OPC said that "we are working on making the export formalities available to be processed via the web because that would halve the amount of paperwork at terminal for shipping companies." It is estimated that the system will be ready next week.
Carriers have blocked the entry and exit of cargo as a protest against the Honduran National Port Company (Empresa Nacional Portuaria de Honduras).
From Tuesday 25 cargo carriers have kept access to the Port of Honduras blocked in protest at the slow service and new charges. The export sector is concerned about the condition of goods which need to be sold as soon as possible in the U.S. market to ensure their quality.