Port Watch Weekly #10 – NL Central America

Port Watch Weekly

week # 10

Caribbean Updates

Dominican Republic

General elections will be held in the Dominican Republic on 19 May 2024 to elect a president, vice-president, 32 senators, 190 congressmen and 20 PARLACEN congressmen.

Haiti

Since last weekend, the City is experiencing riots/Civil unrest.

Even port is not affected, circulation is very complicated in the streets.

As a reminder, we are currently operating at Port Cap Haitien, located north of Haiti.

We’ll follow evolution of the situation and we’ll keep you informed accordingly.

Photo via CNN

Central America

Acajutla, El Salvador

Since February 19th, 2024 at Pier A-1 / A-2 will begin Project of dock front repair. Phases will be as follows:

Phase 1: will be Pier A-1 with 110mts with estimate timing of 3 months on first stage, having about 200mts for docking vessels (towards Pier A-2)
Phase 2: will be for Pier A-2 with 100mts with estimate timing of 2.6 months repair. Having about 210mts for docking other vessels (towards Pier A-1)
Phase 3: will be 100mts in between piers A1 and A2, for this phase. No merchant vessels will be docked.

Note: this will affect congestion on other piers.

Line Ups & Industry news

For more information, please:

Puerto Plata

Waiting time cannot be estimated but port is declared congested.

LOA 700ft BEAM 100ft

Min depth 10.2m at pier #4 west
Min depth 10.2m at pier #5 west
Recommended UKC 0.3m}
Density SW 1.025

Caldera

Due to unfavorable weather conditions and congestion, vessels can experience waiting times as follows:

Note: These waiting days are subject to weather condition, arrival drafts and type of cargo detailed as follows:

MPP and dry-bulk carriers are assigned for docking at berth #4 which has a max permissible draft of 12.3m SW.
Average water density in Caldera Port is 1.018
Berth priorities: 1- Cruiser, 2- Perishable cargoes (reefer containers), 3- Ro-Ro (short time call), 4- grain vessels (at berth #4), 5- General cargo.

UPDATED PORT DIMENSIONS:

Pier N° 1 length: 210 meters
(Official DRAFT for General cargo Vessel 10.50 mts) | CONTAINER VESSEL´S HAVE PRIORITY
Pier N° 2 length: 150 meters
(Official DRAFT for General cargo Vessel 9.50 mts)
Pier N° 3 length: 190 meters
(Official DRAFT for General cargo Vessel 6.75 mts)
Pier N ° 4 length: 250 meters
(Official DRAFT for General cargo Vessel 12.30 mts) | GRAIN VESSEL´S HAVE PRIORITY

Acajutla, El Salvador

Port still declared as “Congested”. Current Waiting time is around 8-10 days for breakbulk vessels.

Berthing continues to be based on below priority list:

Cruise vessel
Sugar & molasses loading vessels.
Containers
Bulk carrier with food and perishable cargo
RORO
Cement/steel, etc.

Extra mooring lines onboard are suggested in case Terminal cannot supply as ACJ is at open sea and current swell conditions are affecting the piers.
Vessels that arrived with draft higher than 11.2m can only work at Pier C, which is dedicated to Containers vessels.

Puerto Cortes

Container ships have priority. Draft port restrictions as follows:
Pier 5: 478.5 meters length (Max allowed drafts 11 mts).
Pier 6: 350 meters length (Max allowed drafts 14 mts).

Puerto Quetzal

Short berthing windows availability. Terminal has a policy for operational productivity of 90MT * Hour * gang; if vessel does not met productivity established, they will ask vessel to vacate berth (shifting expenses will apply).

LOA restrictions: Berths: 1 – 4 -200 MT long each and accommodate as per LOA availability.

Berthing prospects at Puerto Quetzal are subject to various factors as:

Puerto Quetzal has 4 berths for discharge operations.
Regular and consistent liner traffic, two (2) of these berths are solely used for liner/container vessels.
These vessels include container ships with perishable cargo, passenger ships and military vessels.
The remaining two (2) berths are to be used for all other types of cargoes.
Container arriving on daily basis with priority.
Berthing prospects are based on a first come first serve basis, except for liner (chartered) vessels.
Ships loading sugar have priority above all other vessels at port.
Currently no weather issues. BB times are approximately 15-20 days.

Rio Haina

Waiting time cannot be estimated but now both ports are congested.

Current port restrictions:

LOA 760ft BEAM 105ft

Min depth 10.1m at pier #4 west.
Min depth 10.9m at pier #5 west.
Min depth 9.8m at pier #3 east.
Min depth 9.9m at pier #4 east.
Min depth 10.4m at pier #5 east.
Recommended UKC 0.3m.
Density BW varies between 1.016 and 1.025.