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Este informe no está disponible en español. CARIBBEAN BUSINESSGuayanilla Chosen As Site Of New Southern Transshipment Portby Ivonne GarciaJune 1, 2000 The Rossello administration has settled on the port of Guayanilla as the site for its transshipment port in the island’s southern region, a reliable source close to the government recently told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS (CB). The specific site selected is where the defunct Corco refinery now stands. Plans are to rehabilitate the area littered by the towering skeletons and rotting infrastructure of an extinct petrochemical industry. "This will mean new and great economic opportunities for the Ponce region as well," the source told CB. The $350 million to $1 billion world transshipment hub is one of the Rossello administration’s economic development initiatives expected to be approved by the Legislature before the governor finishes his two-term tenure by year’s end. The idea of a mega-transshipment port has been bandied about in Puerto Rico since 1994, when CB first reported on the story. Initially proposed by a Dutch consortium, the new center would be similar to Holland’s Rotterdam Port and would serve as a cargo and distribution hub for the region. CB had ranked the port in Guayanilla, 50 miles southwest of San Juan, as No. 1 on the list of possible sites for the superport because of its deep harbor (more than 40 feet), available land, access to major highways, and protection from high seas (CB Aug. 26, 1999). Other ports considered included Yabucoa, Barceloneta, and Ponce. A transshipment port allows large cargo ships traveling from Europe to this hemisphere to transfer and distribute their loads to smaller ships. That cargo then can be delivered to other ports within the region. Although San Juan already operates as a regional transshipment port for the Caribbean, it can’t accommodate growing megaship activity, thus the need for a larger facility, officials have said. This Caribbean Business article appears courtesy of Casiano Communications.
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