Terminal operator APMT has reported more shipping lines calling and faster truck turntimes at Guatemala’s newest container terminal. Further investments to come.
According to APM Terminals, Quetzal is offering the highest productivity port operations in the country. In less tha[ds_preview]n a year of operations, four new vessel strings have been added to offer the country’s import/export industries more connections to overseas markets. Guatemala City is now served faster by a Pacific port that is only 98 km away compared to Atlantic coast ports which are five hours away. »Equally important, Guatemala’s truckers for the first time in years can now make multiple trips every day into and out of the port thanks to APM Terminals Quetzal’s highly efficient, fast trucker turntime procedures which average 30 minutes,« the company said in a statement.
Trade accounts for 25.9 % of Guatemala’s economy and most of Guatemala’s economic development is concentrated along the Pacific coast. As the country’s newest Pacific gateway port, APM Terminals Quetzal is a hub for exports of sugar, fruits and vegetables, coffee, grains, fertilizer, fish, cotton, textiles and tobacco which represent half of Guatemala’s exports.
With 16.5 mill. people, Guatemala has the largest population in Central America. The IMF has projected an annual economic growth rate of 3.2% for 2017 and 3.5% in 2018. Guatemalan ports handled a combined 1.57 mill. TEUs in 2016, surpassing Costa Rica with 1.34 mill. TEUs for second place in Central America, after Panama, with its Canalassociated transshipment ports at Colon and Balboa, which handled 6.25 mill. TEUs in 2016, among the Central American nations.
APM Terminals Quetzal has a capacity of 340,000 TEUs and is a 85%/15% joint venture between APM Terminals and The IFC – World Bank. APMT has invested 180 mill. $ in the terminal and has plans for an additional 145 mill. $ to be invested over a 19 year period. As part of the company’s community outreach efforts, APM Terminals Quetzal has plans to cooperate with the Municipality of San José on community projects, representing an investment of 500,000 $ a year in projects that will be evaluated jointly.
