Port operator to invest $84M in Puerto Cortés overhaul

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By LatAm Reports Staff Writers

Puerto Cortés fell 84 places in the Performance Index. To regain its position the Puerto Rican Operator from Central American announced an investment

fter the shocking fall of 84 posts in Puerto Cortés in the Index of Punning Ports prepared by the World Bank (BM), the Central American Port Operator (OPC), announced a million-dollar investment in the port facility to regain its position and performance.

OPC executives said they will allocate $84 million (about $22 billion) in Puerto Cortés, thus seeking to position Puerto Cortés as one of the most modern in the region.

The millionaire funds will be earmarked to purchase six Super Post-Panamax cranes, four Post-Panamax mobile cranes and 11 rubber portico cranes (RTG).

Reaction

The OPC authorities were surprised to fall in the Index so a specialized team is analyzing the report that was released in early June by the BM.

According to the ranking, Puerto Cortés went from 94th overall in 2022 to 178 in 2023, being surpassed even by Puerto Barrios de Guatemala, which ranked 125th.

In this regard, Eny Bautista, commercial manager of the OPC, acknowledged that there are many variables that may have influenced the results.

First, he pointed out that this is the fourth edition of the Index and that since 2020 some indicators have changed, since the objective of this study, prepared by the BM and S&P Global Market Intelligence, is to find a way to objectively measure all the ports of the world that record more than 24 visits per year.

Bautista reported that last year there was a significant decrease in the time of compliance of windows, with only 48% compliance, that is, that 52% of container ships did not arrive at the time indicated by the shipping lines.

There were also inconsistencies in movement information and load distribution, which caused delays, as this information is vital for the allocation of cranes and reduce waiting time.

He noted that there were also 612 hours, about 25 days, with one of the out-of-service port scanners, which generated a bottleneck in the import scanner, as they had to use it for both imports and exports.

He explained that, as indicated in the World Bank report, regional disruptions affected the performance of ports around the world, referring to armed conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as delays in the Panama Canal, which went from a flow of 36 ships a day to 18 in January.

Operational

About operational capacity, he said that the OPC is trying to bring in regional cargo, as it has a surplus of 25% capacity, not only in in and outgoing cranes, but also in courtyard, because they have a capacity to store a million TEUs, but at present they are only storing about 752,000.

In turn, he stressed that the OPC handles 84% of Honduras’ imports and exports, moves approximately 760,000 containers per year and has a gross container productivity of 37 movements per hour.

This article has been translated after first appearing in El Heraldo