The Panama Maritime Authority extended for a 25-year term and in favor of the Panama Ports Company, the contract for the development, construction, operation, administration and management of container terminals.
The Board of Directors of the Panama Maritime Authority declared itself in permanent session as of May 27, 2021, for the purpose of analyzing compliance with Contract Law No.
Due to the imbalance in world trade flows, shipping lines have changed their routes and prefer to move empty containers to Asia, a situation that generates shortages and causes increases in freight rates and raw material prices.
In this scenario of new commercial reality, the operating costs of maritime freight have been impacted, since due to the restrictions imposed in several countries around the world, containers have been stranded.
Mandatory use of low-sulfur fuel by ships, shortage of containers and priority for medical supplies and vaccines will push up sea and air freight costs.
Because of the lower-than-projected volume of cargo shipped on the September and October services, the maritime route between Port Moin and Shanghai was suspended.
Costa Rican exporters are negotiating to change the frequency of the maritime route between Port Moin and Shanghai from monthly to weekly from February 2020.
After investing $13.2 million in the expansion of the container yard and the commissioning of two cranes, the storage capacity of the Salvadoran maritime terminal increased by 30%.
Directors of the Executive Autonomous Port Commission (CEPA) stated that $3.2 million was invested in the expansion of the container yard and another $10 million was invested in the commissioning of the two new cranes with a lifting capacity of 150 metric tons.
It is expected that in November of this year the construction of the new dock 2A in the bay of Puerto Cortés, in Honduras, which will serve for the export of stone aggregates to the U.S., will be completed.
Directors of Grupo Avanza, the company in charge of the project valued at $22 million, informed that the works have already begun and estimate that in the first 15 days of November the work will be completed.
After several delays in the construction process, the Moin Container Terminal was officially inaugurated in Costa Rica, a port that has already been authorized to start operations of the second berth.
The operations of the maritime terminal in charge of the concessionaire APM Terminals began in October 2018, since at the end of that month the authorities of the National Council of Concessions informed that after the definitive reception of the work, the maritime terminal received the order to start operating.
Because Colombian ports have a lower operating cost base than Panamanians, the South American country competes to appropriate the logistics business in the region.
Until a while ago, Panama led the logistics operations in the region, however, there are some signs that indicate that this situation could be changing, since the growth in the movement of maritime cargo in the country has reported a slowdown in recent years.
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.