APM Terminals Comes to Costa Rica
APM Terminals, a unit of Danish-based Maersk Group, has undertaken an ambitious project on Costa Rica's east coast which will begin operating in 2018, reports Reuters.
The labor and environmental concerns had been threatening to derail the country's biggest infrastructure project. Costa Rica’s environmental regulator, Setena, has granted the necessary permits, valid for two years, on the condition the Maersk Group’s port operating unit complies with the Central American nation’s environmental standards and legislation.
The first phase of the project will include six post-Panamax ship-to-shore gantry crane, two berths with 600 meters of quay and a 40 hectares container yard will cost nearly $670 million.
The terminal will handle ships up to 13,500 TEUS (twenty-foot equivalent units) with an initial annual capacity of 1.3 million TEUs, rising eventually to 2.7 million TEUs.
Paul Gallie, the Dutch firm's Central America managing director told Reuters that under our concession agreement his company has 36 months to build the first phase of the terminal.
The project, which saw two years of delays, aims to reach a capacity of 2.7 million TEUS, at a total cost of about $1 billion.
