2023-08-12 04:05:00
Presidency of El Salvador The Blue Wave Harmony ferry will make two weekly trips between Costa Rica and El Salvador, at first only for the transport of merchandise.
A blue bridge connecting El Salvador with Costa Rica.
This is how the private company Blue Wave Corporation presents the journey that it began to travel by ferry this Thursday, initially for the transport of merchandise from one Central American country to another.
The idea of uniting El Salvador with the region by river and sea is a long-standing one.
In 2013, the government of that country announced that it would soon sign an agreement to make trips from La Unión, in the southeast, with Puerto Corinto, in Nicaragua.
It was a route similar to the one that had existed in the 1970swhen an armed conflict between Honduras and El Salvador ended with the closed border and trips began on the Fonseca ferry to make a 50-kilometer journey that avoided Honduran territory.
That route ceased to exist in 1980, with the reopening of the border.
The project to refloat the route with Nicaragua failed, two years later El Salvador raised it again, but this time to descend to Caldera, in western Costa Rica.
Presidency of El Salvador The ferry arrived at the port of La Unión, in El Salvador, to leave this Thursday on its first trip to Costa Rica.
There were twists and turns, marches and counter-marches, announcements, memoranda, agreements, until finally this Thursday it is scheduled to see the light.
“It is a project that has been on the agendas of previous governments for decades and unfortunately, like many other projects, it was not possible to materialize,” said the Minister of Economy of El Salvador, María Luisa Hayem, at a press conference.
“[Esto] It will allow the region to have that infrastructure that allows us to connect in an agile way, that allows goods to be moved at lower costs, in less time, and with that the great importance is that we become a more competitive country and region” said the official.
Besides, “it will clear the roads by reducing ground transportationit will increase foreign investment in the industry, there will be greater use and profitability of the port of La Unión and it will stimulate the development of port infrastructure,” the government of El Salvador said in a statement.
One day of travel instead of five
The Blue Wave Harmony ship will have two departures per week between the ports of Caldera and La Unión, round trip, a 667-kilometer journey through the Pacific Ocean that will take between 16 and 24 hours.
The transport of goods by land between the two countries, for which the territories of Nicaragua and Honduras must be crossed, consume between four and five daysaccording to industry data.
BBC
The Minister of Public Works and Transportation of Costa Rica, Luis Amador, stressed that the exchange of products can now be done “without having to go through all the land border posts.”
Inside the ferry about 100 trucks will be able to travel from 18 to 20 meters long on average and their drivers, who upon arrival in the country of destination will continue on the route to the place of final dispatch.
Depending on the size of the truck, each will pay between US$1,145 and US$1,360 per leg, to which services such as electricity for refrigerated cargo and cabins for drivers can be added.
“A carrier can make more trips and perhaps they think they don’t earn as much, but adding up all the intangibles – that a tire blew out, it cost them travel expenses, it cost them bites [coimas]etcetera, etcetera- is adding to it and it is probably getting more than what one sees on paper, which is between US$1,400 and US$1,800,” said the CEO of Blue Wave Corporation, Michael Volks, to the specialized outlet Centroamérica Economía.
Getty Images Specialists have warned that the Caldera port in Costa Rica is saturated.
The president of the Salvadoran Association of International Freight Carriers, Raúl Alfaro, believes the ferry will fail because the costs will be higher than those of the land route.
“For me it is not a long-term sustainable project,” he told Agence France Presse.
Analysts view the process with caution and are waiting for how it develops.
“It seems that the Salvadoran government is much more motivated by this type of project than the Costa Rican government. Even the Costa Rican government until a few months ago was skeptical because it was precisely indicating that the Caldera port is saturated and this would imply an increase in costs, and therefore the benefit would not be seen as such,” Ricardo Castaneda told BBC Mundo, economist from the Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies.
Relevant business partners
Castaneda pointed out that, although the Central American countries are, among themselves, its main trading partners and the ferry can facilitate the transport of goods in the region, “the impact it will have on trade will not be significant.”
The commercial exchange of goods between these two countries totals US$649 million annuallyaccording to 2021 figures compiled by the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
Volks said that they estimate to capture between 3% and 5% of the market if they achieve maximum occupancy and that they are considering adding a third weekly trip if there is demand.
Getty Images The new company estimates that it will capture between 3% and 5% of the merchandise transport market between Costa Rica and El Salvador.
“We will have to wait for it to come into operation to see the real effects. If successful, it will be good news not only for the governments of El Salvador and Costa Rica, but for the entire region. Now, if this project fails, it will also be bad news for the entire region, ”he analyzed.
“Perhaps the achievement is more of an advertising nature for governments than of the real benefits it may have on the population”, added the expert.
The balance of the trade balance between these two Central American countries is favorable to Costa Rica at US$89 million.
For Costa Rica, El Salvador is the tenth country to which it sells the most. For El Salvador, Costa Rica is fifth in relevance.
The maritime company plans to incorporate passenger transport later.
BBC
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC News World. Download the latest version of our app and activate them so you don’t miss out on our best content.
#ferry #benefit #Salvador #Costa #Rica #bypassing #Honduras #Nicaragua