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.
The operator of the port of Limón in Costa Rica, is seeking to diversify its business focusing on conventional cargo handling, in order to compensate for the losses it will face when APM Terminals 's container port comes into operation.
Serving as port of departure for more Nicaraguan exporters and transporting more iron and vehicles are two of the objectives that make up the strategy envisioned by Japdeva, the concessionaire of the port of Moín, in Limón, which they intend to follow over the next few years.
The union of shipowners and steam ship agents in Costa Rica has expressed its opposition to the decision by Japdeva to close one of the berths in Puerto Moin for two months.
The National Chamber of Shipowners and Steamship Agents (NAVE), have questioned Japdeva's decision to close one of the berths between November 7 and January 31, arguing that it is"...
Although the $55 million loan to build a port which will accommodate Postpanamax vessels has already been approved, there is still no environmental or financial guarantee to ensure that the resources will be directed towards it.
The problems with ports in Costa Rican could still get worse in the future with the delay of the expansion of the dock at Moin.
APM Terminals will have until October to comply with the requirements and outstanding permits to begin construction of the container port in the Costa Rican Caribbean.
Through a consensus among the three parties (Japdeva, National Concessions Council and APM Terminals) it has been agreed to extend for a period of three months the suspension agreed last April.
Despite the new president having reaffirmed his government's commitment to the project at Moin to be run by the Dutch company APM Terminal, his own lawmakers are supporting the formation of a committee to re-analyze the concession contract.
While President Luis Guillermo Solis is touring the United States looking for investors and providing legal certainty to foreign companies, inside the country space is still being given to obviously bias obstructionism on the part of port official unions. Now it is the sphere of the Legislature where a petition will be filed in an attempt to halt the project.
The Presidential candidate Luis Guillermo Solis has promised to respect the contract with the Dutch company APM for the construction of a new container dock at Moin.
The likely winner of the presidential election has backtracked on his campaign ads which stated he would "review the ports concession contracts."
During a meeting with members of the Costa Rican Coalition for Development Initiatives (Cinde), Luis Guillermo Solís, presidential candidate of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), said that a new government would respect the contract that was signed two years ago with the Dutch firm APM Terminals to build a new container dock in Moin, Limón, with an investment of $1 billion.
Excessive paperwork is delaying investments in the country's ports, while authorities blame each other for the problems.
Planned investments in the ports of Limón, Puntarenas and Caldera have been slowed by excessive paperwork and the lack of accountability of the authorities, who blame each other for the delays.
2 years ago the port of Moin halted a million dollar purchase of equipment.
The area related to the Port of Limon now has its own Promotion Agency, with private and public operators, and an investment guide to promote its development.
The Agency for the Development of Limon is presented as "a nonprofit joint entity of public utility made up of entrepreneurs, chambers, universities, government agencies and civil society to develop the potential of the economy of Limon and improve the competitiveness of enterprises ", which has as its mission" to promote socio-economic development, through joint planning, coordination, training and dissemination across sectors involved in the development of Limon. "
Costa Rica is not obligated to compensate the concession holder APM Terminals if the minimum load volumes estimated in the contract are not met.
An article in Nacion.com reports that Carolina Murillo Alvarez, an economist at the Regulatory Authority for Public Services (Aresep), "said that the State is not required to indemnify APM Terminals (concessionaire of the docks), if the estimated minimum load volumes in the contract are not reached."
Police entered the ports of Moin and Limon, which had been paralyzed for two days because of a strike, reactivating the loading and unloading of goods.
On Tuesday 12 June, the Trade Unions of Japdeva began a strike at the ports of Limon and Moin, protesting against an award made by the Costa Rican government for the construction and operation of a dock for container ships to the Dutch firm APM Terminals.
The Workers Union comprising of Japdeva, Portuarios and Afines has gone on strike because of opposition to the construction of a private container terminal.
Staff members of the Union of Japdeva Port Associations (Sintrajap) are protesting against the concession to the Dutch firm APM Terminals to build a container terminal in Moin, an investment project costing $22 million approved by the Controller General of the Republic.
The National Tender Board (CNC in Spanish) has notified the company APM Terminals which has a maximum of 18 months to begin the construction of the new Moin Container Terminal (MCT), in the Caribbean, Costa Rica.
After the deadline, APT Terminals has 36 months to complete the works on this terminal which will allow servicing and boarding of container vessels.
The cost of exporting a container using Costa Rican ports is the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The recently released Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum indicates that Costa Rica has moved down five places from last year in the global ranking based on port infrastructure. The report reviewed a total of 142 countries, and this year Costa Rica is ranked 137.
After an arduous process, the government of Costa Rica has signed a concessionary award to Dutch run APM Terminals for the construction of the port and its management for a period of 30 years.
APM Terminal's investment will be $950 million, and they will have a period of 3 years to build a container port in Moin on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, north of the existing port facilities.