Port Overview

Port of Acajutla is a modern industrial Pacific Ocean port located in the the municipal of Acajutla in the Department of Sonsonate, southwest of El Salvador, 85 km from the capital San Salvador. Acajutla has 3 piers with 8 total docs, with offshore, privately owned, moorings available.  The port tends to service an average of 49 ships per month, carrying containers, general cargo ships and fuel which are attended to at an offshore terminal.  Adverse weather conditions, strong ocean currents, affect the port from April to June sometimes requiring ships to leave their berths. This phenomenon mainly affects QUAY B.

Key port information can also be found at: http://www.maritime-database.com/ports/topports.php

For more information on port contacts, please see the following link: 4.4 El Salvador Port and Waterways Company Contact List

Port Picture

Port Performance

The port is equipped with a system of conveyer belts for handling bulk grain shipments; there is only one berth that can service ships with the conveyer belt system at one time. Vessels should have no more than 10m of bathymetry if the conveyer is desired/foreseen. No priority is given to humanitarian cargo by the port and ships are attended to on a first-come first-serve basis. Storage capacity are as follows, Pier “A”, one covered warehouse 4,500 m², on land 4 covered facilities totaling 22,600 m². The conveyer belt system is run by two private companies, ALCASA and ALMAPAC. Bulk cargo is automatically transferred to their silos when the conveyer system is utilised.  The silos at ALCASA have capacities of 143,000 mt, 47,000 mt in silos and 96,000 mt of storage is available in horizontal warehouses. ALCASA has the capacity to bag and dispatch 500 mt of product per day. ALMAPAC has a capacity of 120,000 mt in horizontal warehouses and 16,000 mt in silos. Bagging charge for ALMAPAC is US $2.60 / MT.

Discharge Rates

Link to relevant tariff/rates web page: http://www.puertoacajutla.gob.sv/regimen.php

Pilotage fees

Link to relevant website (e.g. for updates): http://www.puertoacajutla.gob.sv/regimen.php.sectionVI

Tug Services

Link to relevant website (e.g. for updates): http://www.puertoacajutla.gob.sv/regimen.php

 

Mooring Services

 

Port and harbour dues

 

Dockage, Buoy age and anchorage

 

Supply of Fresh water

 

Laying up of vessels

 

Charges for general services - Hire of labour and equipment

Berthing equipment specifications

 

General services

 

Port cargo handling equipment

 

Container Facilities

With an area of 48,500m² and with a capacity of 2,778 TEUS, stowed at three levels, and being able to attend simultaneously 160 cold containers.

General Cargo handling berths

Terminal Information

Oil Handling Terminal

The port of Acajutla is a multipurpose port, consisting of three quays called A, B and C, designed to accommodate vessels with average lengths of 150 meters. The loading or unloading of bulk liquid is carried out through pipes installed by different companies on the docks A and C. Likewise there are three private terminals handling liquid bulk outside the docks. The first terminal is owned by the company Refinery Port of Acajutla (RASA), the second one is owned by the Company CENERGICA. A third one is owned by ALBA Petroleum. CEPA has no storage tanks for liquid bulk, the goods move from Muller tanks owned by private enterprises or vice versa. When the ships arrive in port and conduct their operations on the docks, they are placed in positions of berthing previously allocated by CEPA, right on the sites where importing or exporting companies have installed their inlet pipes to conduct discharge from the docks to storage tanks or vice versa.

The main imported products are mobilised: Ethanol or alcohol, petrol and diesel; the main export products are: Ethanol Alcohol and molasses or cane.

Multipurpose terminal

Port Acajutla is a multipurpose port and there is not a specific multipurpose terminal.

Grain / Bulk handling

The discharge of solid bulk can be done in any of the quays of the Acajutla Port, in two ways:

• Using Conventional Methods: The download is done using cranes of the ship. The product is moved from the holds of the ship to dump located on the docks, and after it is placed in transport units to be moved towards private storage companies outside the port or into cellars strains known as BIN (whose capacity Storage is 18,000 MT).
• Using System High Performance: The download is done using a crane, which is connected to a conveyor system to move the product from the holds of the ship directly in the company’s storage, or by downloading from the cellars of the ship by conveyor belt and deposited in the transport units to be further moved to companies’ private storage outside the port or into cellars known as BIN.

The main bulk of solid imported are: corn, soy flour, wheat, rice, coal, urea fertilizer formulas, ammonium sulphate. The operations of all ships arriving at Port Companies are performed by six private contractors, who assign strains ships under a pre-established procedure.

A) Main Silo terminal: Warehouse for storing bulk solids for export fitted with 2,400 m² with a capacity of 12,000 MT, it is equipped with a conveyor system for handling cargo. The warehouse for the storage of solid bulk import has an area of 2,500 m² and a capacity of 18,000 MT, spread over 6 bins of 1,000 MT and another 6 of 2,000 MT each. The warehouse is equipped with a system of belts.

B) Main storage terminal: It has a roofed area of 26,300 m² to store up to 113,900 MT of various products.

C) 48,000 m² container yard with 2,514 TEU of storage capacity (three high) and 120 reefer plugs.

D) 35,000 m² storage yard for up to 2,000 vehicles.

ALMAPAC (Almacenadora del Pacifico): Company specialised in the handling of food and industrial products, solid or liquid. It is located inside the port terminal.

Solid products:

• 6 warehouse 210,000 MT
• 4 metallic silos 10,000 MT
• 6 concrete silos 6,000 MT

Liquid products:

• 3 tanks for grease 2,200 MT
• 6 tanks for molasses 52,000 MT

General:

• 1 Warehouse general use:  3,000 MT

Container yard:

• 1 Yard for repair/storage of empty containers           4,000 TEU

Bagging: US$ 2.60 / MT

Address:

Final zona industrial del Puerto de Acajutla, Departamento de Sonsonate.

Tel.: (503) 2445-8900

Fax: (503) 2445-8907

www.almapac.com

ALCASA (Almacenadora Centroamericana S.A. de C.V): This company provides a specializsd service in the handling and warehousing of cereals and grains in transit, as well as general products. They provide services of reception, bagging, warehousing and delivery. ALCASA has the capacity to bag and dispatch 500 MT of product per day.

• 7 Automatic and non-automatic warehouses with a total capacity of 96,000 MT
• 3 Concrete Silos with a capacity of 47,100 MT.
• Conveyor belts connected to the port with a capacity of 500 MT/Hour.
• 6 Hopper
• 3 Electronic platform scales
• 1 Weighbridge
• Open area of 30,000 m².

Address:

Planta ALCASA, Zona industrial Puerto de Acajutla, Sonsonate

Tel. 2429-7700

Fax: 2452-3131

http://www.alcasa.com.sv/

info@alcasa.com.sv

Stevedoring

CEPA outsourced the handling/stevedoring services to 3 different companies, counting on about 635 workers. Furthermore, CEPA has contracted 4 private companies for the management of about 195 staff for cleaning and maintenance.

 

Conventional cargo

 

Hatch and other than standard freight

 

Containerized cargo

 

Other container handling services

 

Shore Handling - Conventional Cargo

 

Shore handling - Containerized cargo

Clearing Agents

Port Security

1=Normal; 2=Heightened; 3=Exceptional

Storage facilities

 

 

 

 

 

Port Overview 

The New Port of La Union is one of El Salvador’s main infrastructure with total investment US$200 million. It was inaugurated by GoES in June 2010. The project was financed by Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and a government agency, Comisión Ejecutiva Portuaria Autonoma (CEPA).   

Among the facilities that the Port of La Union offers to potential licensees include: high level of port infrastructure, with more than 50 ha of work (1 Stage), with deep-water docks where boats can dock Post Panama type that can mobilise up to 6500 TEUs; space for future development of facilities, road connectivity and the possibility of developing a rail connectivity.  

Port website: http://www.cepa.gob.sv/tag/puerto-la-union 

Key port information may also be found at: http://www.maritime-database.com 

Port Picture 

 

Port Performance 

Since its inauguration in 2010, the port has been barely used (95 vessels between 2014 and 2017). The government of Japan, through JICA, in 2019, started an assessment to the port in order to support the improvement of the basis for economic and social development through the development of economic infrastructure. In addition, it will promote technical assistance that contributes to the activation of the Port, built under the Reimbursable Financial Cooperation scheme.  With this strategy is its hoped to define its role against Port of Acajutla and its complementarity to Puerto Cortes in Honduras and Port Santo Tomas de Castilla in Guatemala. 

Statistics for 2019 show a total reception of 21 vessels (18,041.19MT: 23,242 TEU).   

At the moment the type of ships that can enter to the port are those type of Panamax that mobilise 4,66 TEU or Post Panamax mobilising 6,500 TEU.  

 

Port size: small

Access Chanel: Dredging 13 million m³ approx. 

Interior Canal:   

• Length: 5.0 km. 
• Deep: 14.00 MT.  
• Width: 140 MT. 
• Signal Range: 3 Mn.  

  

Exterior Canal:

• Length 17.00 Km. 
• Deep: 14.50 MT. 
• Width: 140 MT. 
• Signal Range: 4 Mn 

 

Navigation Aids. 

• 16 Marker buoys. 
• GPS Radios
• 1 Navigation Lighthouse  
• Visibility: 22 Nautical Miles 

 

 

 

Discharge Rates and Terminal Handling Charges 

For information on port rates and charges, please see the following link:  https://www.transparencia.gob.sv/institutions/cepa/documents/servicios 

Berthing Specifications 

General Cargo Handling Berths 

Port Handling Equipment 

The port equipment is handled by governmental personnel. The equipment is not used 100% since very few vessels arrive there. 

Container Facilities 

Facilities for containers are mostly empty due that not many vessels arrive to the port. 

Customs Guidance 

Although there is little movement at the port, Customs office is active. There is no information regarding on how long it takes to get shipment out of the port. 

There is also an office in La Union: 3ra calle Pte. Sector La esperanza, Colonia Belén, No. 22, La Union. Phone No.: +503 2604-4106 / 2637-0173. 

Terminal Information 

MULTIPURPOSE TERMINAL 

Multipurpose terminal is available with the following information:  

Berth length: 220 m 

Depth: -10 m 

Total area: 115,981 m² 

 

There is also a Ro Ro and passenger terminal with the following information: 

Berth length: 240 m 

Depth: -9.5 m 

Total area: 34,871 m²   

GRAIN AND BULK HANDLING 

There is no information with this regard. 

MAIN STORAGE TERMINAL 

There is a warehouse for general cargo, which is located at the multipurpose terminal and its working hours are as follow: 

• Monday: 08:00 – 17:00hrs 
• Tuesday to Thursday: 07:00 – 17:00hrs 
• Friday: 07:00 – 15:45hrs 

So far what has been stored is: iron and steel (metal, ingots, rolls, coils, sheets, messes, loose parts, others) and fractional General cargo. Whichever shipping company or customer must present the Tarja note and the partial bill of departure and a payment of USD 0.39 par metric ton. 

Port Security 

Port security is maintained 24 hours a day.