Costa Rica mega-container terminal opening delayed an extra year

Due to major unforeseen construction problems, the completion and opening of the new APM Terminals-operated terminal at Moin will be delayed until February 2019.    The Costa Rica port of Moin has delayed the opening of a new mega-container terminal until February 2019, 13 months later than originally agreed, according to the National Concessions Council (CNC) of Costa Rica.
   In April, the terminal operator APM Terminals, which is also developing the facility, said damage to piles and surface compaction problems would delay construction by three months. However, problems that have arisen from construction processes are bigger than they originally thought, resulting in a delay of more than one year from the original date of completion.
   Kenneth Waugh, manager of APM Terminals Costa Rica, told Nacion.com that he delay will cost APM Termianls between $50 million and $60 million dollars, including construction costs, losses due to the terminal not operating and fines.
   However, Technical Secretary of the National Concessions Council Sylvia Jiménez said in a public statement that “the council cannot yet specify an exact figure for the fines that APM Terminals will have to pay,” but preliminary estimates indicate that the economic impact on revenues for APM Terminals would be approximately $480 million. According to the CNC, the calculations of that amount are based on lost traffic from some 2 million containers at a rate of $240 each.
   Minister of Public Works and Trasnport, Ing. Germán Valverde, stressed that the Costa Rican administration “will continue to exercise control and sanctioning power in the event of breaches of the concession contract signed between the State and APM Terminals Moín SA.”