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financial aid totaling US$180 million from the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).
• To avoid the risk of pollution when handling bulks and to avoid interference with urban traffic by using specialized equipment and storage space within the port estate.
engineering and construction contract to a single contractor. Equipment will be purchased through a separate tender, on which machinery and equipment suppliers will be invited to bid.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
To achieving these aims, financing has been sought for two basic components:
PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT
Puerto Cortés, located northeast of Honduras on the Caribbean coast, is the country’s main port and accounts for nearly 90 per cent of its maritime traffic. It is the most important deepwater port in Central America, with 1,157 meters of main wharves accommodating vessels of 10.5 to 11.5 meters draft and certified as a Safe Port. The port is linked to the country’s main cities via the CA-5 highway, which forms part of the Atlantic Corridor. In addition, there is a project in place for a new logistics corridor, known as the Dry Canal Project. This involves the construction of 370 km of road linking Puerto Cortés with Puerto Cutuco (El Salvador) once the latter becomes operative. Owing to its regional position and favorable competitive conditions, Puerto Cortés handles a significant volume of containers and solid bulks. Each year, the port currently handles 320,000 containers (equivalent to 3.5 million tonnes) at semi-specialized and multipurpose wharves. It uses storage space in areas both inside and outside the port estate, but lacks a dedicated container terminal. About 1.4 million tonnes per year of solid bulks are handled at multipurpose wharves in direct vessel-to-truck operations, but these are not very efficient and they interfere with urban traffic. The port estate is currently hemmed in by the city. This restricts any opportunities for port zoning and hinders the development of specialized operations in the existing wharves, mainly because of a shortage of wharf-linked storage space.
AIMS OF MODERNIZATION PROJECT The project’s general aim is to boost the capacity and efficiency of port operations. Specific objectives: • To reduce the time and cost of vessel and cargo operations and develop a logistics operation typical of specialized terminals
• Dredging and filling of a future container terminal • Building and equipping of the container terminal.
DREDGING AND FILLING The ENP plan includes dredging and filling in preparation for the future container terminal and organic solid bulk terminal. This involves dredging about 2.5 million cubic meters at Port of Cortés Bay and filling about 47 hectares of reclaimed land at the planned terminal construction site as well as fill-slope protection. These works will be contracted separately from construction of the actual terminals.
CONTAINER TERMINAL The ENP project includes developing a container terminal. This involves constructing a new linear mooring front of 485 meters with a depth alongside of 14.0 meters; a back-up area of 23 paved hectares for container storage; construction of a container freight station (CFS); access roads; and auxiliary buildings. In addition, the plan includes 22 hectares of terracing for multipurpose and future developments. It also includes providing the terminal with four post panamax gantry cranes and yard machinery in the form of 18 straddle carriers. This will involve a total investment of about US$225 million to cover dredging, design, construction, works supervision and equipping of this terminal. The following documents have been drawn up for ENP: a pre-project for the container terminal, tender conditions for the building contractors; and an initial definition of the operational model and corresponding equipment. The plan is to award the
ENP has advanced in two directions: • It secured financing from two financial institutions: Interamerican Development Bank (BID) and Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), who will contribute US$90 million each. For its part, ENP will contribute US$45 million of its own funds for the construction and outfitting stages of the project. • In order to expedite the contracting process before granting and obtaining of the loan, ENP initiated already at the end of the year 2007, the pre-qualification procedure of consulting firms, supervisory companies, and construction and dredging contractors. During 2008 and 2009 the specifications and terms for public tenders have been prepared and published, calling for bids by the pre-selected companies. All these proceedings have been certified by both financial institutions. It is therefore expected that it will be possible to award the various contracts for the implementation of this major initiative in the near future. This project is not only of national interest, but will also make a significant contribution to the process of port development throughout the Central American isthmus.