The Briefing Room

General Category => World News => Topic started by: TomSea on January 28, 2020, 03:44:15 am

Title: Guatemalan president offers El Salvador the chance to build a port in Guatemalan waters
Post by: TomSea on January 28, 2020, 03:44:15 am

Quote

Guatemalan president offers El Salvador the chance to build a port in Guatemalan waters

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday offered his Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele, the opportunity to build and operate a port in Guatemalan waters in the Atlantic Ocean to promote commerce.

Giammattei, who took office in January, said the governments will work to develop a legal framework so that El Salvador can develop projects through a public-private partnership on the Guatemalan coast.

“We have offered El Salvador something unprecedented in the history of Central American integration, and today I want to announce it publicly because we are going to explore, as soon as possible, the possibility that El Salvador has a port in the Atlantic, in the Guatemalan Atlantic,” Giammattei said during a news conference at the Salvadoran presidential residence.

Continued at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-elsalvador-guatemala/guatemalan-president-offers-el-salvador-the-chance-to-build-a-port-in-guatemalan-waters-idUSKBN1ZR07O (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-elsalvador-guatemala/guatemalan-president-offers-el-salvador-the-chance-to-build-a-port-in-guatemalan-waters-idUSKBN1ZR07O)

Looks like El Salvador is not landlocked but per map and article, lacks access to the Atlantic:

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Map_of_Central_America.png)

Title: Re: Guatemalan president offers El Salvador the chance to build a port in Guatemalan waters
Post by: Absalom on January 28, 2020, 04:00:26 am

Quote from: TomSea on January 28, 2020, 03:44:15 am

Looks like El Salvador is not landlocked per map and article, but lacks access to the Atlantic:

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True, their only access is thru the Panama Locks which are costly.

Title: Re: Guatemalan president offers El Salvador the chance to build a port in Guatemalan waters
Post by: Smokin Joe on January 28, 2020, 11:15:14 am

With Panama Canal transit costs averaging $150,000/ship, and can get to nearly half a million for large container vessels carrying 4500 containers, even much of the US far East trade crosses from Pacific ports by rail, instead of going through the canal.

For smaller shippers, cargoes, and countries, having an Atlantic port of access would be a boon.