Exclusive Cruise Ship Dock and Mega-Port on the Horizon

September 26, 2007
San Jose, Costa Rica

Some very good news forCosta Rica's Caribbean coast: it's set to get a much-needed leg up with the $600-million modernization of its two principal ports, Limon and Moin, which the government hopes to operate via private concession. If all goes according to plan, the government will solicit bids by May of 2008 for a private company to rebuild and operate the port installations. The winning company will be expected to invest around $600 million in the project, which is expected to be recuperated over 25 or 30 years of operating the port.

Costa Rica's Caribbean port of Limon is already a popular cruise destination, but the
government plans to aggressively expand the port.

Officials plan to convert the principal port in the city of Limon into an exclusive dock for cruise ships, and move cargo operations to the nearby port of Moin. President Oscar Arias' administration hopes that by 2010 Limon will be one enormous receiving station for cruise ships, with a private marina included.

An initial design for the modernization of the Limon and Moin ports has already been handed over by Sociedad Portuaria de Santander, a Spanish public company that signed a cooperation agreement with Costa Rica' Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) in 2006. The company has made suggestions on how to improve productivity at the two ports. The suggestions are now being analyzed by Costa Rica's National Council of Concessions.

There is one major obstacle that the government will have to tackle this year. The union of dock workers, Junta de Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Económico (Port Administration and Economic Development Board, or JAPDEVA) is totally opposed to privatizing the docks because most of its 1,200 dock workers would be laid off, with no guarantee of being rehired.

The union itself, however, is seen as one of the reasons for the port's current lack of productivity. Collective bargaining won the union the right to shut down operations nine days out of the year (to celebrate national holidays), meaning millions in losses for time-sensitive exports and imports like fruits and vegetables.

Meanwhile, a private consortium has proposed building a new "mega-port" on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast (near the town of Limon, in the province of Limon) that would transfer cargo from mega-carriers-ships that haul between 5,000 and 12,000 containers-to smaller ships for delivery to other ports. No word yet on whether this project has been approved, but we'll keep you posted.

Your Latin America Insider,
Suzan Haskins
for International Living

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