Starting August 17, APM Terminals' new rates for the Moin Container Terminal will come into effect in Costa Rica, rising from $257 to $262 for the loading and unloading service.
Thursday, August 15, 2019
The increase from $257.43 to $261.60 represents an adjustment of $4.17 per container, which applies whether the container is full or empty, as stipulated in clause 11.8.5.1 of the concession contract signed between the company and the government of Costa Rica.
This increase in tariffs comes in a complicated context, since in recent weeks’ difficulties have been reported in the operations of the maritime terminal.
Edgardo Gonzalez, president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Shipping (NAVE), explained to Elobservador.cr that "... although the increase that will begin to apply this Saturday is in accordance with the stipulations of the contract, there was a desire that the company decide to dispense with this right. We already knew that this increase was coming. Sometimes one hoped that, in the face of the whole situation that has arisen from both operational problems and questioning, they would reserve the right not to make the increase.”
Gonzalez added that "... the issue does not depend so much on the amount of the increase as on the several situations that have surrounded the operation of APM Terminals since it began operations a few months ago. It is not so significant but it is important, especially since we have had the impact of the Value Added Tax that is being paid by imports. The issue is in the hands of the government."
At the end of June of this year, exporters reported that the operations of gantry cranes in Moin were inefficient, also reported physical damage to containers, damage caused by waiting for ships in the bay, and that the time of departure of the ship takes up to two hours, when before it was done in half an hour.
Since mid-July, the main companies transporting maritime cargo from the Port of Santa Tomas in Guatemala stopped operating the direct route to Europe, which will raise between 20% and 25% the costs of imports and exports.
After six decades of keeping the direct route to European ports in operation, the main shipping companies departing from Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla in Izabal such as Maersk, Hamburg Sud, MSC, CMA-CGM, Hapas Lloyd and Sea Trade, decided not to re-operate the route concerned, leaving only one company with a multipurpose transport ship as an option to move cargo to Europe.
Delays in the attention of containers in the terminal in charge of APM Terminals, congestion in the yards, cuts in the electrical flow and the computer system, are some of the complaints of the exporting sector of Costa Rica.
Complaints of delays in the port in Limon and in charge of APM Terminals are not new, because in early April, five weeks after the start of operations of the Moin Container Terminal (TCM), reported delays of at least 25 hours of work, which was due, according to the authorities, to the demarcation work of the road between San Jose and Limon.
The closure of route 32 has generated delays in the maritime terminal of Costa Rica, delaying the entry of carriers to leave or withdraw cargo.
Five weeks after the start of operations of the Moin Container Terminal (TCM), the port in the Pacific in charge of APM Terminals, reports delays of at least 25 hours of work, which is due, according to the authorities, to the work of demarcation of the road between San Jose and Limon.
The terminal which is being built by APM Terminals in the Costa Rican Caribbean will be able to receive vessels containing refrigerated cargo containers of a larger capacity than those currently arriving at the port.
Fresh fruits and meat exporters are some of the productive sectors that will benefit the most once the mega port being built in Limon, Costa Rica comes into operation.
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