New container terminal opens in Haiti

Port Lafito offers upgraded facilities and capacity compared to Port-au-Prince.    Port Lafito, a modern container terminal built with public and private money, officially opened for business on Friday in Haiti. The Caribbean island nation is looking to compete with nearby countries like Jamaica, Panama, the Dominican Republic and others to be a regional logistics hub for the Americas.
   Located 20 kilometers north of Port-au-Prince, Port Lafito is the country’s first deep-water port with a draft of 41 feet and 1,476 feet of berth space, and its facilities will be able to serve break bulk and general cargo customers as well. The harbor depth, however, will preclude the port from handling post-Panamax vessels from Asia looking to offload cargo at a central location and rely on feeder services to move the cargo to multiple U.S., Central American or South American ports.
   Port officials have executed a lease with Seattle-based terminal operator SSA Marine to run the facility and said they have agreements with Taiwanese container line Evergreen Marine and Miami-based King Ocean Services to make Lafito a regular port of call.
   A manager at King Ocean Services who did not want to be identified, however, said there is no firm agreement in place yet to provide service to Port Lafito. 
   King Ocean is a small ocean freight carrier that operates vessels between ports in the Caribbean and Central America.
   Evergreen currently serves Port-au-Prince, but doesn’t use any of its own ships. It buys capacity on alternating weekly services operated by small Caribbean-Central American companies Caribbean Feeder and X-Press Feeders, with average vessel capacity of 1,207 TEUs, according to American Shipper research affiliate Bluewater Reporting. An Evergreen spokesperson in the United States did not have any information about the company using Port Lafito and the Evergreen service schedules do not show Lafito as a destination as of yet.
   The port of Port-au-Prince is small and crowded. It only has a draft of 31 feet and lacks modern cargo handling facilities, as well as space to handle large cargo volumes.
   Port Lafito last month added two Liebherr LHM 420 mobile harbor cranes. Other port equipment includes two reach stackers, two top loaders, 10 yard trailers and tractors, 200 chassis and 16 trucks.
   The port also can handle refrigerated cargo with 78 power plugs on property and 48 plugs off dock. Other services offered to shippers and ocean carriers include consolidation and warehousing, and inland drayage. The port also operates a container yard outside Port-au-Prince with a warehouse for less-than-container consolidation.
   The development of Port Lafito was led by GB Group, a group of industrial and trading companies with operations throughout the Caribbean, with financing provided by the International Finance Corporation, the Dutch Development Bank and other international banks.
   Port Lafito is part of a $200 million economic development zone that will include an industrial free zone and a business park, which officials claim will create more than 25,000 new jobs by 2020.
   “Port Lafito will breathe new life into Haiti by creating new jobs, training for skilled labor, and encouraging foreign investment and development. This project will make a significant impact on the national economy and have a beneficial impact on the more than 10 million people that live here,” Reuven Bigio, CEO of GB Group, said in a company statement.