On March 8th of the current year, the Commission of Integration Services for Export of the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport), the Santo Tomás de Castilla Port Company and the Veracruz Investor Group of Mexico presented an agreement signed between the States of Guatemala and Mexico for the creation of a new maritime trade route between both countries. This route connects Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla (Guatemala) with Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo (Mexico). The idea of this route is to be an alternative for the commercialization of products that come or go to the southern states of Mexico.
Mexico represents an important commercial ally for Guatemala and vice versa. According to the information presented by Agexport, Guatemala exported 458.6 million dollars to said country during 2017. With the aforementioned agreement, it is expected that this route serves around 11 million tourists a year, which represents an income of almost 9 million dollars for Guatemala. Recently, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port stated that the Port of Santo Tomás de Castilla: “is one of the most competitive ports of the nation and its workers are a fundamental part of its development, with the new strategies promoted by the current administration we hope to increase revenues by 2018.”
The creation of this trade route implies a series of commitments for the State of Guatemala, such as a strong investment in infrastructure in said port. For this purpose, the National Port Company of Santo Tomás de Castilla approved an increase of Q. 257.5 million to its budget for the purchase of machinery, equipment and expansion of three docks. To comply with the above, the aforementioned entity, through the Guatecompras Portal, has tendered Q. 100 million in acquisitions in order to comply with the Investment Plan of the State of Guatemala 2018-2022.
Director
García & Bodán
Guatemala