Like colorful Legos® laid out by a child ready to create fantastic structures, hundreds and hundreds of red, blue, white and green steel containers undeniably dominate the port landscape.

These huge metal boxes, invented some 50 years ago and now transformed into symbols of global trade, seem to reproduce themselves along the expanse of wharves at Puerto Cortes in Honduras. Over time, they seem to take on the appearance of multicolored mountains or multistoried buildings with the names of maritime transport companies stamped on the walls.

Further back in the recesses of the port, the steely ambience is broken by the beehive of activity on the docks: A gigantic and powerful crane, like the grappling hook of a giant, grabs a container with an air of indifference. Then, it suspends it in the air, swings it around at a 45-degree angle and releases it on the ground. Then the reach stacker picks it up and takes it towards the metallic mountains.

The scene is repeated over and over again until the Greek-flagged ship is emptied of containers. On either side of the titanic vessel, men sweating up a storm are unloading a dozen other ships. At midday, the heat is almost overwhelming.

While this contingent removes containers or bulk cargo (wheat, flour, rice, barley, etc.) from the bowels of the most recently docked vessels, another group of workers is busy loading textiles, seafood, coffee, bananas and other merchandise exports from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala into other ships.

At the bay, five deep-draft vessels await their turn. At Puerto Cortes, Central America's main seaport, the activity is non-stop. The flow of steadily increasing cargo doesn't even allow the workers time for the traditional nap.

This Honduran port, which fronts the Caribbean, sends more cargo to Florida ports in the United States than any other port in the world—some 11.5 percent of the total, according to Honduran officials. In fiscal year 2006, Puerto Cortés processed 77,707 shipments bound for the United States, constituting 0.67 percent of all shipments to the United States,

Exports from Honduras can enter the United States duty-free and imports from the US to Honduras are duty free. Honduras was one of the first countries to enter into the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with the US in April 2006, which does not rely on renewal by the US Congress.

Besides its advantageous geostrategic location, Puerto Cortes has other advantages over other regional ports, including the technology to detect stowaways, nuclear arms, drugs and materials that could be used for international terrorism within the containers. The Secure Freight International Container Security (ICS) system was installed in February 2007 and testing began in April 2007. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection office, which was inaugurated by Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, has been operating on the premises to guarantees that the cargo coming from Honduras is secure. As of July 2008, Puerto Cortes leads the way as one of only three ports in the world checking all cargo for nuclear radiation.

With this array of advantages in its favor, the Honduran port ranks first among Central American ports, and by the end of this year, "Thanks to all these features, we could experience a 10 percent increase in container traffic," predicts Angel Augusto Vargas, the vice-president of the Federación de Agentes Aduaneros de Centroamérica y el Caribe (Central American and Caribbean Federation of Customs Brokers).

Since the port administration is expecting more cargo and won't accept the idea that a ship would dock at another facility because of a lack of resources, it plans to invest $150 million over the next five years in Puerto Cortes to expand the docks, build new terminals and acquire new technology.

Puerto Cortes is not the only Central American port facility on the upswing: All the ports in the region, including those on both ends of the Panama Canal, are steaming full speed ahead. Now that commerce is growing by unprecedented leaps and bounds in the area, no facility wants to be seen in the embarrassing situation of running aground.

The government of El Salvador is investing millions of dollars in the modernization of the Pacific ports of Acajutla and Cutuco de La Union in the hopes of achieving one of its most ambitious goals: to transform the country into a logistics distribution center.

"With the creation of a logistics platform as a result of our current expansion, we will attract different companies to establish a presence in the area, as well as encourage private participation in the management of the port," says Ernesto Altschul, planning director of the Comisión Ejecutiva Portuaria Autónoma (Autonomous Executive Port Commission). "This will result in a better quality of life for the population."

Since last year, dozens of workers have been participating in the transformation of the old and romantic port in Cutuco, located on the eastern side of El Salvador on the Gulf of Fonseca. This terminal will be completely updated and finished between 2009 and 2010, and will have the ability to handle some 125,000 containers. Cutuco's renovation will cost the Salvadoran government more than $132 million and is being financed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation.

Both the governments of El Salvador and Honduras are planning for their ports to play a major role in the commercial maritime traffic in the region, with each nation launching major projects. Even so, they're jointly cooperating to build a dry interoceanic canal (a network of highways and railroads) to connect Puerto Cortes on the Caribbean with the Puerto de la Union on the Pacific, including branches leading to the port facilities of Corinto in Nicaragua and Puerto Barrios in Guatemala.

Conceived a little more than two decades ago, the dry canal is one of the most ambitious and possibly controversial projects of the Puebla-Panama Plan (an integration program for the countries of Central America and Mexico aimed at developing the infrastructure) and is financed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the European Investment Bank.

In Central America nobody wants to lag behind—it would be fatal. These tiny countries have weighed anchor and are being driven by winds blowing from North America, which keep them in constant movement in order to be able to compete with the big boys.

In recent years in Guatemala, the Comisión Portuaria Nacional (National Port Commission) has dedicated itself to one of its most critical missions: earning the ISPS Certificate (International Code for the Security of Ships and Port Facilities) from the International Maritime Organization for Santo Tomas de Castilla, Puerto Barrios and Puerto Quetzal, its three most important port facilities.

"We were recently honored in Lima, Peru with the Exito Business Award, which has made us very proud," says Eduardo Garrido, the general manager of the Quetzal Port Authority of Guatemala. "Central American ports are now grabbing the attention of institutions that recognize their growth and leadership within Latin America."

The government in Nicaragua isn't standing around with its arms crossed either. In 2005, the Empresa Portuaria Nacional (National Port Authority) invested a considerable sum to make its aging ports more competitive: for example, the channels of both Corinto and Bluefields are now being dredged. By some time next year, they'll be able to attract deep-draft vessels after they've been deepened.

All the modernization projects are steaming full speed ahead. In Costa Rica, the Instituto Costarricense de Puertos del Pacífico (Costa Rican Institute of Pacific Ports) is looking for ways to improve the security and infrastructure of its facilities. The goal is to attract more cargo vessels and cruise ships filled with foreign tourists—above all Europeans—to the country's ports.

Approximately 175 cruise ship calls are made to Costa Rica annually. The rest of the Central American isthmus, however, is seeing the arrival of even more Caribbean cruise mega ships carrying 2,000 passengers. After a stay of a day or two, the ships weigh anchor and the tourists take away memories of their favorite sites in photographs. But these figures are very small. Just like floating bars of soap sliding over the water, processions of ships transit through the classic and broad Panama Canal (varying from 299 to 984 feet wide). An incredible number—some 1,300 ships of all shapes and sizes—cross through the canal every month.

Within a few years, however, even this number could be considered small. The Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (Panama Canal Authority) has plans for a gigantic project that will dramatically increase the amount of ship and cargo traffic and will expand the 50-mile canal. A proposed $5billion expansion could make the project a reality by 2014.

"Panama has a world of opportunity at its disposal, since its primary resource is its strategic geographic position, and international trade is growing in the routes that use the canal," explains the director of corporate planning for the Canal Authority, Rodolfo Sabonge.

With this expansion project, Panama, the narrowest country—measuring some 40 miles at the canal—and the most economically developed on the isthmus, is looking to increase the canal's capacity to take advantage of globalization.

More developments to local business and trade infrastructures
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle-income countries. Some of its latest grants to support projects in Central America include:

Costa Rica / El Diquis Hydroelectric Power Geotechnical and Financial Analyses — Two grants, valued at $300,000 and $200,000, to the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity are supporting components of a $4 million feasibility study for the construction of a 631 megawatt (MW) hydroelectric power plant to meet Costa Rica's growing demand for electricity.

El Salvador / Municipal Infrastructure and Commercial Zone Development in Chalatenango Project — A $500,000 technical assistance grant to the Municipality of Chalatenango is supporting the development of municipal infrastructure and commercial zones in the northern region of El Salvador.

Northern Zone Trade Facilitation Portal — A $285,000 technical assistance grant to the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development is supporting the development of a web portal to facilitate trade and investment in the northern region of El Salvador.

Guatemala / Customs Transit Control System — A $387,500 grant to Guatemala's Superintendent of Tax Administration (SAT) is promoting a more efficient and secure system that allows SAT to closely monitor customs warehouse transfers and cargo inspection activities, capture all commercial transactions and reduce losses.

Honduras / Port of Cortés Dry Bulk Unloading Terminal — A $470,000 USTDA grant funded a study for Empresa Nacional Portuaria on the development of a dry bulk unloading terminal, which will improve the overall infrastructure and efficiency of operations at the Port of Cortes.

Nicaragua / Nicaragua National Ports Law — A $510,000 grant to the Nicaraguan National Port Authority is supporting the development of a framework for a National Ports Law.

Panama / Port and Maritime Sector Monitoring and Control Center — A $331,341 a facility grant for purposes of monitoring and control of Panama's maritime sector, including the administration of the Panamanian-registered fleet, national and international fishing fleets, ports, safety, security and environmental management.

Source: http://www.ustda.gov/program/regions/lac/