New harbor terminal begins operations in eastern Cuba

Havana, May 14 (Prensa Latina) The multipurpose terminal at the port of Santiago de Cuba, in the east of the Island, began operations as part of the country’s efforts to develop the sector.

Cuban Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca announced in his Twitter account that the project was developed with China’s credit and stressed that ‘it will increase the country’s port efficiency’.

In statements to the Cuban News Agency, Jose Antonio Olivares, director of the port of Santiago de Cuba, said that the terminal began operations on Monday with the arrival of a container ship as part of the start-up process for its upcoming opening.

Olivares stressed that it is equipped with modern technology, which will allow the dock to raise its quality standards to levels of other ports in the region.

Among the advantages he cited was the decrease in the payment per stay by incorporating two warehouses with a capacity of up to 20,000 tons as temporary warehouses for quick unloading.

Freight payments will also decrease because ships will not have to pass through Havana or Cienfuegos first.

Another benefit is the automation in the control of operations in real time, which allows monitoring the 24 hours each process and movement within the terminal, which when at full capacity will multiply operations and outputs.

The facility, qualified as the most important in the eastern zone in the last 40 years, has an X-Ray ship that protects it from all types of traffic and the lighting is LED technology with a consumption below 30 percent of the current one.

This pier, built in three years by Chinese and Cuban specialists, was built on 142 piles buried at a depth of 26 meters protected with concrete.

Walter Niuvó, an investor on the Cuban side, explained that they can handle 5,000 tons a day.

(Taken from PL in Spanish)

Written by Radio Grito de Baire