In Costa Rica the will of the state to impose the rule of law against the de facto power exercised by any conglomerate continues to shrink.
The concessionaire APM Terminals has reported losses of up to $200,000 a day because of blockades by truckers who are obstructing the route to the construction site for the container terminal in Moin.
At least 200 carriers have blocked route 257 in the Caribbean of Costa Rica for a fifth day, which has brought economic losses both for companies who have to use this route as well as the Dutch company APM Terminals. The road in question leads to the construction site of the Moin Container Terminal (TCM). According to APM Terminals each passing day will mean losses of some $200,000.
For the private sector work stoppages at the ports of Limon in Costa Rica, have reaffirmed the urgent need for the country to build a port terminal in the Caribbean.
Costa Rican ports move the majority of cargo from international trade from Nicaragua, therefore abnormalities in the terminal operations affect the transit of Nicaraguan goods, because of the lack of a port on the Caribbean coast.
Once again conservationism is at the service of sectoral interests, paralyzing investment in infrastructure which is essential for halting the deteriorating competitiveness of the economy.
EDITORIAL
In Costa Rica an investment of billions of dollars to build a container port has been held up by six years of legal proceedings, and added to this will be a further 5 months due to maneuvers made by uncompromising conservationists in league with unionists.
A constitutional court has rejected appeals by port unionists and announced that the construction of the Container Terminal at Moin will begin in early 2015.
From a statement issued by APM Terminals:
San José, Costa Rica, October 9. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Costa Rican Government and APM Termináis in an appeal filed by the port workers unión against the 33-year concession contract for the new Moin Container Terminal (TCM) in Limón on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.
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.
In Costa Rica extreme environmentalism and the interests of the port unions are crippling a proposed $1 billion logistics development which is vital for the country
For the second time this year an appeal has been filed to obstruct the development of the port terminal by APM Terminals. Now it is the Constitutional Court that is hosting yet another appeal against the construction of the access road to the project.
Port sector entrepreneurs are advocating legal mechanisms to prevent the stoppage of work at ports due to workers strikes.
The latest labor dispute which took place in Manzanillo port in Panama and its impact on the logistics industry is not far removed from other countries in the region.
Maritime industry representatives agree on the serious risk posed by strikes to the development of Panama as a logistics center.
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.