Port of Call: Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
Founded in 1854, the city of Puerto Limon is home to the largest and most important port in Costa Rica. Originally created to aid in the exportation of bananas and coffee, the significance of the port has grown throughout the years and the economic importance of the city is immeasurable. Costa Rica is known as one of the most environmentally friendly countries in the world, and its abundance of natural resources has helped shaped the country into an important and major economic force in the world. Today, the city is the second largest city in Costa Rica and the port receives over 80% of international shipping services into Costa Rica. Despite its importance to the economy of Costa Rica, the port is in need of major rehabilitation and expansion efforts.
Throughout the history of the port major earthquakes have altered the landscape of the city and have affected the efficiency of the port. In 2014 a $1 billion agreement was made between Costa Rica and APM, a major terminal operator to bring much needed improvements to the port. Under the agreement a new deep water port will be built on an artificial island. The new container terminal will be almost 50 football fields long and will be able to handle approximately 2.5 million containers each year. The expansion of the port terminal and infrastructure improvements is expected to increase international automobile shipping and heavy machinery shipping services into Puerto Limon. Puerto Limon is also the world’s largest exporter of pineapples and the second largest exporter of bananas and the new terminal will aid in shipping Costa Rica’s goods to countries around the globe. The project and agreement with APM is expected to last for 33 years.
Some notable features of the port of Puerto Limon, Costa Rica:
- Once complete, the plans for expansion will make Puerto Limon the largest port in Central America.
- Puerto Limon’s proximity to the Panama Canal makes it an excellent transshipment hub location for international shipping services for cargo passing through the canal destined to other countries.
- In addition to handling container cargo for the shipment of machinery and plastic, the port is also capable of handling international roll-on / roll-off construction equipment shipping and overseas car shipping services
- Puerto Limon is easily accessible by road to the capital city of San Jose allowing for simple transfer of general cargo and goods within Costa Rica and to the capital.
For more information about the port of Puerto Limon, Costa Rica please visit: http://www.japdeva.go.cr/. To receive more information about our international shipping services or to receive an international shipping quote to Costa Rica, please visit our rates request pages.
