Governor Pedro Pierluisi together with the executive director of the Authority for Public-Private Partnerships of Puerto Rico (AAPP)Fermín Fontanés Gómez, announced today the selection of the company San Juan Cruise Port, a subsidiary of Global Ports Holdingfor the repair, design, construction, financing, maintenance and operation of the San Juan Bay cruise terminals with a private capital contribution of over $400 million.
According to the written communication, the granting of the public-private partnership contract to Global Ports, a company of Turkish origin, will allow “meeting the infrastructure and modernization needs of piers 1, 3, 4, 11 to 14 and Pan-American I and II of the Ports Authority , in a contract between the Puerto Rico Ports Authority and San Juan Cruise Port for a term of 30 years.
The government explained that the selection of San Juan Cruise Port is the result of a bidding process that began in 2017 with the aim of dealing with the deterioration of the cruise ship docks, optimizing their structural conditions and modernizing them to temper them to the demands of the modern cruise industry. This, in order to increase port access in Puerto Rico and strengthen the island’s position as a maritime tourist destination in the Caribbean.
As part of the process established by the Public-Private Partnerships Law (Law 29-2009), it was indicated that the AAPP carried out a Desirability and Convenience Study that analyzed various options to address the situation of the Authority’s cruise terminals of the Ports. Said Study concluded that a PPP is the appropriate mechanism for the project because it enables the necessary capital investment to bring the terminals to world-class standards and maximize the impact of the cruise sector on the island’s economy and tourism.
It is expected that Global Portswhich last year reported $44.5 million in losses, enter into an agreement that will require between $60 million and $70 million to pay off the debt associated with the 9 docks -in the hands of the Ports Authority and that would be transferred to the operator-, adding to an investment in capital improvements that will require transforming that infrastructure, for a total that is estimated to be around $350 million approximately, El Nuevo Día learned.
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