Puerto Cortes on track to be the best port in the region
Puerto Cortes is a city located northwest of Honduras in which territory is located the most important port in the country and one of the most important in Central America. Its port is certified as “Safe Port”, and it is through it that there is the largest flow of merchandise that generates the country’s international trade.
Honduras has set itself the goal of becoming a global logistics center, and one of the first steps to achieve this is through the modernization of the entire maritime terminal of Puerto Cortes, with the help of Operadora Portuaria Centroamericana, a subsidiary of the ICTSI company (International Container Terminal Services Inc).
That is why on September 21st of this year a new dock was inaugurated in Puerto Cortes, which has greater agility so that importers can enter the country all their merchandise in a more efficient and expedite way, profiling Honduras as the country with the most competitive port, and with the greatest capacity, efficiency and technology in the CA-4.
The construction of the port has a cost of 140 million dollars, equivalent to more than 3,360 million Lempiras and has the capacity to serve mega-ships of 250 to 310 meters in length (such as ships that cross the Panama Canal), which until now only served ships of 217 meters, increasing the operational capacity of the dock in the terminal by 50%. This investment is only the first phase of modernization, which gives way to the second phase that will begin in 2022, and which at the end will increase the movement capacity of the dock to 1.9 million TEU (1 TEU is the capacity of load of a standard 20-foot container).
By being able to receive ships of this size, the import and export costs decrease as more containers can be transported, increasing the productivity of the terminal and improving the entire process and cost of the logistics chain; which in the end translates into better prices for consumers nationwide, positively impacting our economic growth.
Astrid Villeda Hersperger
Associate
García & Bodán
Honduras