Apart from other priority actions, it is urgent to carry out dredging work at both the Quetzal Port Company (EPQ) and the Santo Tomás de Castilla Port Company (Empornac) so that larger ships can enter and be more competitive.
The above, according to the Council of International Transport Users of Guatemala, (Cutrigua), whose directors stated in a recent presentation that not having sufficient draft to serve larger ships that do dock in other ports in the region and the world, impacts additional costs since, for example, cargo coming from Asia in larger ships must be transferred to smaller ships.
Regarding occupancy, they report that APM Terminals maintains 92% occupancy; Puerto Barrios, 85%; EPQ, 80%; and Empornac 59%. According to international standards, a port begins its congestion level at 60% of its capacity.
Prensa Libre spoke with the manager of EPQ, Ricardo Monterroso, and the president of Empornac, José de la Peña, who explained the current situation of these facilities and the problems that urgently need to be resolved.
EPQ: months following a crisis
If dredging work has not been carried out in 18 months, Puerto Quetzal will enter a crisis because the sand traps have already collapsed and the port has already lost capacity, in addition to the fact that larger vessels will no longer be able to dock, so They are looking for options to carry out the necessary works through the administration figure because the legislation does not allow this work to be expedited in any other way.
This was indicated by Monterroso, explaining that currently a public international tender cannot be launched for the complete work, but rather it has to be done in parts but that they are extremely long processes.
“If dredging work has not been carried out in 18 months, Puerto Quetzal will go into crisis because the sand traps have already collapsed and the port has already lost capacity”
Ricardo Monterroso, EPQ general manager
In the case of dredging, literal f of article 43 of the State Procurement Law specifies the contracting modalities and states that they can only be carried out by administration, except in situations derived from states of exception declared in accordance with the Law of Order. Public, Decree Number 7 of the National Constituent Assembly.
Regarding the silting, Monterroso said that annually an average of 250,000 to 300,000 cubic meters of sediment comes down from the influx of the Achiguate River and the Chiquimulilla channel and as the marine currents go from west to east, much of that sediment is lodged in the Puerto Quetzal area, so the sand traps have already collapsed.
“If work is not done immediately, there will be fewer and fewer deep-draft ships that can dock. For example, if a ship with a capacity of 50 thousand metric tons (MT) comes today, it will be necessary to bring two of 25 thousand MT, and that will make Guatemala’s maritime trade more expensive. In addition, it places the port facility in a risky condition, which causes maritime freight to also become more expensive.”
A second factor is that there is no expansion and there is a high demand for vessels for the commercial dock area, so the vessels must wait, which results in fines that are passed on to users, including importers, which In the end it affects the cost of the basic basket and many items consumed in the country.
The original drafts of Puerto Quetzal at the commercial dock were 11 meters, but in some areas they already reach 9.5 meters and that forces us to wait for high tides before docking. “That is to say, we have already lost installed capacity because the charter vessels that load 35,000 to 50,000 MT of bulk or those that range from 3,000 to 5,000 teus cannot come loaded to their full capacity due to the same issue of dredging.”
“President Bernardo Arévalo, unlike other administrations, is in direct contact and control with the ports, so that the two ports follow the same line of development”
Jose´ de la Peña, president Empornac
Added to this is that the winter season is regarding to enter, when to protect the bulk product the warehouses are closed, which has an impact on the line of boats. “So, the western area of Puerto Quetzal must be maximized with the terminals that are already established there as strategic business units and in general terms, expand the port.”
As part of a temporary solution, the possibility of taking advantage of a current agreement between the Ministry of National Defense of Guatemala and the Secretariat of the Navy of Mexico is being considered, which includes some type of assistance from dredgers that perform services and maintenance at the ports. Lázaro Cárdenas and Manzanillo.
If this is achieved, a tender would not be launched, but rather it would be a binational agreement that they support and Guatemala would have to pay for whatever is required.
Monterroso emphasized that, for the first time, the bathymetric chart is being made known.
“My message to the chambers and unions has always been, don’t leave me alone with the problem. I ask that we put pressure on Congress to approve some controlled situation because this is a critical infrastructure issue. If we enter a crisis, rebuilding the port will be 50 times more expensive,” he explained.
Empornac: Dock is insufficient
Regarding Empornac, De la Peña explained that President Bernardo Arévalo, unlike other administrations, is in direct contact and control with the port companies, so that the two ports move towards the same line of development.
The first emergency measure agrees that work must be done on the depth of the docking area, so maintenance dredging is necessary on what is called the dock face, that is, on one side, to deepen to 10 meters. which is what infrastructure gives us today.”
In addition, they are investing in a dock platform to expand it 8 meters further towards the sea and with this it will be possible to have pilots 50 meters long that will support it, to be able to dredge.
After these two steps, he explained, it is logical to talk regarding dredging the access channel and the maneuvering basin, since if work is only done on the latter, large ships that require greater depth will not be able to dock when they reach the dock. .
Currently the depth is 8 and 9 meters, while the access channel and the maneuvering basin have an approximate depth of 12 meters. The idea is to serve vessels that have a draft of 14 or 15 meters and not just 7 to 7.5, which are already too small.
Asked regarding the difficulties that EPQ exposes for contracting dredging, and the difficulty that Santo Tomás might face, he said that the application of the law is general, but that in the case of Empornac they are requesting the Chiquita terminal, which operates in Puerto Barrios, to maintain the face of the dock, as a commercial ally.
In addition, said company has a project to develop its dock in Puerto Barrios with its own investment and the idea is to provide them with support from whatever Empornac has the power to do.
This work “will make Guatemala more attractive internationally to receive cargo from larger ships with greater amounts of cargo, to become a logistics point for Honduras and El Salvador,” since the latter was moving its cargo through Santo Tomás, but a year ago he decided to go to Puerto Cortés (Honduras) to have access to the Atlantic, which he wants to recover.
The second step will be general dredging in the port and in the access channel and the maneuvering basin, which is currently around 12 meters deep.
For the first part of the aforementioned work, the goal is to start in phases, since there are four berths, and one of these is the most urgent because it has a lot of damage to its structure.
Another decision is not to buy port machinery because every year, in the annual plans there is a purchase of equipment, but sometimes it is not needed, so it will be acquired when it has worn out due to excessive use or normal operation. “Just buying equipment to have it parked on campus is not going to happen in our administration,” said the manager.
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