The Puerto Rico Ports Authority is the owner and administrator of all maritime facilities on the island, which include: the Ports of San Juan, Guánica, Guayanilla, Guayama, Yabucoa, Arecibo, Fajardo, Vieques and Culebra.
The Port of San Juan is recognized as the leading commercial port in Puerto Rico and ranks as the busiest and largest commercial port in the Caribbean. The port received visits from 661 cruise ships, moved 1.3 million passengers and 9.8 million short tons of cargo during fiscal year 2004. This point to a recovery from the 1.1 million passengers and vessels from the previous fiscal year and a slight decrease from the 9.9 million short tons moved during the same period in 2003. The Port of San Juan features modern and secure tourism terminals for mega cruise ships, with capacity to handle up to eight cruise ships on a daily basis. Cruise ships operations are handled at piers 1, 4, 6, Pan American Dock I, II, and the Navy Frontier Pier. Construction of pier 3, currently on the way, will increase the number of berths to ten. Services at the Port of San Juan include, among others: supply of water, bunkering service, dry dock facility, foodstuffs, medical services, advanced communications technology, and ground transportation to resorts and casino hotels,. Due to the increased number of cruise ship passengers arriving and departing the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, a new $71 million Domestic Terminal Building for groups and cruise ship passengers is under construction. This Terminal will also assist in handling passengers for the upcoming Convention Center.
As part of a master planning program, cargo operations will be transferred from the Puerta de Tierra piers, a prime tourism and business development site, to a more appropriate location in Isla Grande. This transfer will provide additional space for cruise ship berthing facilities near Old San Juan. Once the transfer is completed, cruise ship operations will remain in Old San Juan, Puerta de Tierra and north of Isla Grande. Cargo operations will concentrate in Puerto Nuevo and south of Isla Grande. The $27 million Pan-American Dock #1 and #2 expansion, dredging and improvement works were completed on December 2003, including the construction of two terminal buildings. This facility serves as the new home port of mega cruise ship “Serenade of the Seas”. In addition, a new design for the Navy Frontier Pier passenger terminal will enable this facility to handle mega cruise ships.
New tourism pier development includes:
Construction of Pier 3. This $28 million project features a terminal building and other facilities that will accommodate in-transit cruise vessels.
The $12.5 million conversion of the internal structure of Pier 4 allowing passengers to embark and disembark at higher floor levels which will facilitate the operations of mega cruise ships. The second level of the structure will also accommodate Customs.
Rehabilitation of wharfs 11, 12, 13 and 14 for cruise ships operations. The Authority’s investment for upgrading and expanding tourism facilities up to the year 2008 amount to 114.8 million.
Among these projects are a $2.5 million rehabilitation work under the Pier 1 concrete platform, scheduled to start on May 2005; reconstruction of platforms and a construction of a terminal building on wharves 8 and 9, slated to start on July 2007, at an estimated cost of $30 million
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Cargo Activities
The port installations in San Juan harbor aggregate 22,700 lineal feet of berthing space; 1,100,000 square feet of transit shed area; 1,500,000 square feet of open storage area and 105 acres of marshalling yards. The majority of the facilities are located in Puerto Nuevo and Isla Grande . Currently, the Puerto Rico Port Authority is redesigning its port facilities in the Puerto Nuevo cargo area to accommodate more efficient and appropriate land use. These plans include reassigning space leased to shipping companies and the elimination of activities unrelated to maritime operations like warehouses and food distribution companies. Underway are plans to eliminate Avenue C in Puerto Nuevo and close-off the area to non-shipping traffic to increase space for cargo and container handling. To meet future demand for space, the PRPA purchased 30 acres of land worth $11 million in the Isla Grande area, including a dry dock being refurbished at a cost of $4 million. Once the transfer of all cargo operations is completed, they will be concentrated in a area specially designated for this usage. Due to the expected increase in passenger and cargo movement, the Authority has proposed a $196.5 million Capital Improvement Program covering the period from 2003 to 2008 for its maritime facilities island wide. Expansion projects at Puerto Nuevo cargo zone are comprised by a $14.4 million refurbishment of Piers "E" and "F" and the $9 million rehabilitation works of Piers "N" and "0", which have been completed. Upcoming projects include the $20 million expansion of pier 16 and the $25.4 million construction of a new wharf at Isla Grande's south side. In addition, another of the Island's key ports, the Port of Mayagüez, received a total of 273 vessels, which represented an increase of 12.5 percent from the previous year. The Puerto Rico Port Authority also completed the transfer of these facilities to the Port of Mayagüez Commission.
