Operations and prospects of the Mariel Container Terminal increase

2023-09-27 16:28:29

The Mariel Container Terminal estimates to end this year with a traffic of around 300,000 TEUs –unit of measurement equivalent to a 20-foot container, a figure that is close to those achieved before the covid-19 pandemic.

José Leonardo Sosa Barrios, deputy director of the facility, highlighted the importance it has had the increase in containerized goods, the terminal’s refrigerated capacity of 1,140 outlets, and the growth in international transhipments.

In terms of infrastructure, the Terminal has capacity for about 800,000 TEUs, although in its Master Plan a total capacity of three million TEUs is conceived, with 24 Super Post Panamax cranes.

Martín José Spini, general director of the Terminal, said that the infrastructure is one of the most modern in the region, with an ideal position to serve as a transshipment port and first port of call in services to Asia and the ports of the Gulf of Mexico. and the Caribbean.

He reported on the completion, in December, of the access channel that will allow the Terminal, the first user of the Mariel Special Development Zone, to receive Neopanamax vessels of up to 366 meters in length (length), 52 in width (width) and 15 in draft (the underwater part).

José Carlos López, director of the basic investor unit of logistics activities, explained that the dredging of the channel was carried out in three stages of construction, which included biological studies, environmental impact and technical-executive projects, tasks that were carried out entirely with the company GeoCuba Marine Studies.

The General Director of the Terminal recalled that the extraterritorial Torricelli Law, part of the framework of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba, is a limitation so that ships that call at Cuban ports can do so again in those of the United States, which They are shocked by the possibility, in the short term, of carrying out transfers.

However, he highlighted, services can be provided to ships transiting the Caribbean, destined for other ports in the region, including Asia or northern Europe, with the advantage of reducing transit times and freight costs.