The president of Guatemala offered the neighboring country to explore the possibility of El Salvador having a maritime cargo terminal in the Guatemalan Atlantic, a proposal that generates doubts among exporters.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
The announcement was made on January 27th, during a meeting between Alejandro Giammattei and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on the occasion of the signing of the open skies agreement.
The plan is to give El Salvador a plot of land next to the Santo Tomás de Castilla National Port Company (Empornac), to build a cargo loading and unloading terminal in Guatemalan territory.
Giammattei said at the conference that "... We have offered El Salvador something unprecedented in the history of Central American integration. Today (January 27, 2020) I want to announce it publicly, because we are going to explore as soon as possible the possibility of El Salvador having a port in the Guatemalan Atlantic."
Antonio Malouf, Guatemala's economy minister, told Prensalibre.com that "... the technical-legal analyses will be carried out to give up the land in Empornac, which is known as 'El Arenal', where a container storage depot currently operates, but which does not have the yard or terminal infrastructure or the dredging conditions. It is a completely new port and they would be building it and we are giving the land basically that is El Arenal. What is needed is for them - El Salvador - to have commercial access to the Atlantic and they need a bigger ship that Empornac can receive."
For El Salvador's export sector, the proposal raises many questions, such as "... What is the need for an El Salvador port in Guatemalan territory? Will border taxes be lowered? Will the movement of goods be more agile?"
Silvia Cuellar, executive director of the Exporters Corporation (Coexport), told Elsalvador.com that "... What would be the scope of a project of such magnitude? Would El Salvador build it? If so, when the agreement with Guatemala ends, the investment in this infrastructure would remain in Guatemalan territory."
Another concern that arises is whether El Salvador would have in concession a space within one of the ports of Guatemala, and if then in that port the border permits would be processed. None of this is clear.
Authorities at the Guatemalan port terminal announced that they have solved the container congestion problem reported weeks ago, and have started working on a reengineering process.
Empresa Portuaria Nacional Santo Tomás de Castilla (Empornac) reported that after implementing a series of actions of a logistical nature, they have managed to solve the problem of container saturation in that area, and their operations remain stable.
Due to lack of investment in machinery and equipment in recent years and slow loading and unloading of vessels, the shipping company Maersk Line is to partially suspend its operations in the Guatemalan port terminal.
Guatemalan exporters and authorities at Puerto Santo Tomas de Castilla are working together to find solutions to the congestion affecting the port terminal.
The Department of Competitiveness at the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport) and representatives of the port terminal started holding meetings last week to develop a road map, which will focus on improving traceability of cargo and the clearance of merchandise.
Due to a recovery of customers and the start-up of a new route, the port terminal in Guatemala expects to mobilize 320,000 containers this year, 8% more than in 2017.
Starting in May, the Santo Tomás de Castilla National Port Company (Empornac) will have a new logistics route that will connect the Guatemalan port with the Mexican terminal of Puerto Morelos, in the state of Quintana Roo.
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