Two multipurpose cranes with the capacity to mobilize 600 tons will begin operating at Guatemala's maritime terminal on December 12th.
Representatives of the Ministry of Communications informed that the new cranes of Operadora Logística de Guatemala, S.A., the company that won the tender to provide the service, have a $6 million cost each.
Hector Recinos, vice minister of Communications in charge of ports and airports, said to Prensalibre.com that "... The crane service operations are going to be reactivated and with the shipping agents the itineraries to receive ships with containerized goods have already been programmed."
The National Port Company Santo Tomás de Castilla will seek external financing to develop the expansion works planned for the port terminal in the next five years.
According to the representatives of the Empresa Portuaria Nacional Santo Tomas de Castilla (Empornac), in the next five years a cruise terminal will be built, one for solid and liquid bulk, and another for containers.
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.
From January to June a total of 161,000 TEUs were mobilized from Guatemalan ports to different US destinations, registering a slight year-on-year increase of 1%.
According to the "Logistics Monitor" prepared by the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport), Port Everglades in Florida prevails as the main cargo receiving port of Guatemala, with 15% of the total sent there up to June, followed by Wilmington in Delaware, with 13.4%, Gloucester in New Jersey with 9.5%, Gulfport in Mississippi, with 7.8% and Port Hueneme in California, with 7.6%.
Guatemalan business leaders have denounced the fact that due to the crisis in Nicaragua that is now affecting the region, the cost of transporting goods by sea has increased between 30% and 40%.
Representatives from the Chamber of Industry in Guatemala (CIG) and the Guatemalan Chamber of Food and Beverages (CGAB), reported that due to the Nicaraguan crisis which started in mid-April and has deepened with every week that has passed, entrepreneurs have reported increases in their transportation costs caused by the difficulty of traveling through the territory under conflict.
In order to minimize some of the impact that the Nicaraguan crisis has had on intraregional trade, the governments of Costa Rica and El Salvador have announced that they are now in a position to start ferry operations.
After unsuccessfully trying to implement this maritime cargo transport option, in May of last year the Spanish shipping company Odiel decided to end the negotiation process to operate the ferry, due to a disagreement over the setting of tariffs that would have to be charged for the service. Since then, the project has been forgotten.
A $130 million loan is being negotiated with the BCIE to begin, at the end of the year, improvement works at the port of Corinto.
Representatives from the National Port Company (EPN) explained to Elnuevodiario.com.ni that in addition to the terminal's modernization plan, which would "... double the arrival of cargo ships ... an investment of approximately $70 million will be made in modernizing the port, only in what corresponds to equipment, and that the project will take about two years."
The Dutch company Van Oord - Bam will be in charge of dredging about 220 thousand cubic meters of sand and silt in the port terminal of Moín in Limón, Costa Rica.
In order to allow the transit of ships with larger drafts, the Port Administration and Economic Development Board of the Atlantic Coast (Japdeva), signed a contract for the dredging work, which will take about three months and should be done at the same time as the operation of the port terminal.
Between January and September, Panamanian ports moved 5 million containers, 13% more than in the same period in 2016.
Compared with the same period in 2016, the increase of 12.6% is equivalent to 577,679 additional TEUs.
According to figures from the Panama Maritime Authority, the largest movement was recorded in June, with 610,975 TEUs. In the remaining months, the movement was higher than 500 thousand TEUs.
The company Oceánica Internacional has started operating a new maritime cargo service that will connect the port of Hong Kong with El Salvador without the need for transshipments.
The goal of the new route is to expand the options for transporting maritime cargo between the region and Asia, benefiting in particular Central American companies that import goods from China.
Vessels sailing under the Panamanian flag will receive benefits in port tariffs and preferential treatment in ports in the People's Republic of China.
From a statement issued by the Presidency of Panama:
Panama reaffirms its leadership in merchant marine matters by receiving the status of "Most Favored Nation", with which vessels under their registry will receive benefits in port tariffs and preferential treatment in ports in the People's Republic of China.
In the first seven months of this year 2.4 million containers have moved through panamanian ports, 10% more than in the same period in 2016.
Preliminary figures from the Panama Maritime Authority show that between January and July of this year, 2,357,588 containers passed through Panamanian ports, equivalent to 3.9 million TEUs.
The 70% growth in cargo movement through the port of Corinto in the last five years reflects the imperative need for Nicaragua to invest more in port infrastructure.
Even though container movements through Nicaraguan ports are still significantly less than that through other ports in the region, the increase in sea freight traffic and its growth potential compel the government and the sectors involved to think about options for increasing port capacity.