The formal approval of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) is another major milestone in the development of the new Terminal de Contenedores de Moín (TCM) project, for which a 33-year concession for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the facility was endorsed in 2012. The first phase of development, originally scheduled for completion in 2016, calls for the access channel and turning?basin to be dredged to 16m, a new 1.5km breakwater to be constructed with a 40 hectare container yard, 600m of quay and 2 berths equipped with 6 post?Panamax cranes. Upon the completion of the final phase, the TCM will have an area of 80 hectares, with 1500m of quay, 5 berths, a 2.2km breakwater and an access channel 18m deep, serving as a shipping hub for the Caribbean and Central America. The TCM project represents an overall investment of approximately USD1 billion.
“APM Terminals is well aware of Costa Rica´s dedication to environmental protection, and consistent with our own corporate sustainability standards, we have complied with, or exceeded all environmental requirements, mindful of the local community in Limon and the people of Costa Rica” stated APM Terminals Costa Rica Managing Director Captain Paul J Gallie.
The ESIA was completed by Centro Científico Tropical (Tropical Scientific Center), well-known and highly regarded pioneer natural conservation group, with a track record of more than five decades of study, research and conservation of natural resources in Costa Rica and throughout Latin America.
The Environmental License was issued yesterday and is valid for the life of the project. The Construction Start Order was also issued by the National Concession Council and states that construction must start within 30 days of January 19, 2015. The first steps in the construction phase will be the construction of a new breakwater, followed by dredging.
Costa Rica, bordering Panama to the South and Nicaragua to the North in Central America, is currently the world’s largest exporter of pineapples, and the 4th-largest exporter of bananas. Sugar and coffee are also major export products, with high-technology an increasingly important trade component.
The Puerto Limón/Moín port complex is the largest in Costa Rica, handling 1.05 million TEU in 2013. The current port is limited to vessels of up to 2,500 TEU capacity. The deep-water TCM will increase the port’s annual throughput capacity by 1.3 million TEU at opening, with a potential build-out of 2.7 million TEU. APM Terminals Moin is designed for fully-cellular container ships under JAPDEVA’s master plan. Containers carried on conventional ships can continue to be handled in JAPDEVA’s existing Moin facility.