Executives of the Dominican Port Authority (Apordom) and the Spanish company Baleària presented at Fitur 2024, the processes to convert the Port of San Pedro de Macorís into a port where cargo and tourism coexist between “La Sultana del Este” and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
The event was headed by the president of the Board of Directors of the Dominican Port Authority and of the Presidential Commission for Port Modernization and Security (CPMSP), Alejandro Campos, and the president of Baleària, Adolfo Utor.
In this regard, Alejandro Campos explained that the transformation of the port of San Pedro de Macorís marks the rebirth of a maritime legacy and, together with the new route, symbolizes the vision of progress and development that has been the banner of the president, Luis Abinader.
“Our country was very shy in receiving cruise passengers. Thanks to the strategy implemented by Apordom, we have increased the numbers. Many people thought that Cabo Rojo was a dream and would be the largest terminal in the Caribbean. We are rescuing San Pedro,” he said.
Meanwhile, Adolfo Utor pointed out that the new service will be a communication infrastructure and a key driver for the progress, socioeconomic development and connectivity of both territories, with Baleària’s experience of more than a decade in the routes it operates between the United States and the Bahamas.
“We have a great interest in continuing to expand our business model in the Caribbean area, an emerging market with a lot of potential. Thus, Baleària plans to invest 100 million dollars in the start-up of this new maritime line, to which it will transfer its strategic axes of innovation and sustainability, offering a combined transport of passengers, vehicles and goods, with daily and reliable communications,” he said.
The new route between Mayagüez and San Pedro de Macorís, with a trip of 133 nautical miles and a duration of six hours, will have the capacity to transport approximately 1,000 passengers, 350 vehicles and 300 containers to Dominican soil.
Therefore, the route, which will be ready in the third quarter of 2024 and will operate six days a week, will provide 1,000 direct and indirect jobs. The project is the second to be executed between the two destinations. A similar route operated in the 1980s.
Source: Arecoa.com
