Various news sources are reporting that Virgilio Silva, the President of the Nicaraguan Port Authority (known as the Empresa Portuaria Nacional or EPN) has announced that the much talked about “Bluefields Deep Water Port” will start this year and predicts the completion of the project in less than five years.
The comments were made in Managua on March 9th 2022. Silva also stated that the government of Nicaragua already has the investors in place for the project which should see the cost of a container drop from the current US $900 to US $400.
The EPN head also commented that now is the time for Nicaragua to start preparing plans to take full advantage of the resumption of ties with China, “a very a very profitable market for exports”. He confirmed that the Nicaraguan government believes that the new port will be essential to any Free Trade Agreement they will sign with China as a result of resuming diplomatic relations with them late last year.
A deep water port can handle very large and heavily laden ships and is usually built where there is a water depth of 30 feet or more to handle the “draft” or the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull including any part of the vessel (rudders, propellers etc.).
When talk of the Nicaragua Interoceanic Canal (and its two deep water ports) dried up, the conversation switched to the feasibility study of the Bluefields Deep Water Port on the Caribbean Coast.
Following the feasibility study, the details of the project were revealed by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
Upon completion, Nicaragua would no longer be reliant on the ports in Honduras and Costa Rica to support its imports and exports. This will afford Nicaragua greater sovereignty over its imports and exports as well as eliminate those extra transport, border crossing and time costs.
