APM Terminals announced its plan to strengthen Guatemala’s newest container terminal, APM Terminals Quetzal, providing more shipping lines calling and faster truck turntimes, to offer high productivity port operations.
In less than a year of operations, four new vessel strings have been added to offer the country’s import/export industries more connections to overseas markets.
Guatemala City is now served faster by a Pacific port that is 98 kilometers away compared to Atlantic coast ports which are five hours away.
Furthermore, Guatemala’s truckers can now make multiple trips every day into and out of the port because of APM Terminals Quetzal’s efficient, fast trucker turntime procedures which average 30 minutes, APM Terminals inform.
APM Terminals Quetzal has a capacity of 340,000 TEUs and is a joint venture between APM Terminals and The IFC – World Bank.
Trade accounts for 25.9% of Guatemala’s economy and most of Guatemala’s economic development is concentrated along the Pacific coast, APM Terminals inform.
APM Terminals Quetzal will ensure that exports of sugar, fruits and vegetables, coffee, grains, fertilizer, fish, cotton, textiles and tobacco which represent half of Guatemala’s exports, are successfully handled to quality standards.
APM Terminals Chief Commercial Officer, Henrik Lundgaard Pedersen, said: “Every country wants access to a competitive port – and we are proud to design our new container terminal around the country’s growth needs and Guatemalan businesses. APM Terminals Quetzal will play a strategic role in Guatemala’s economic future and competitiveness in world markets. The container terminal you see here is a Guatemalan success story – run by Guatemalans with 170 new jobs created here and hundreds of indirect jobs for the future.”
