LIMON RISING

FEATURE STORY

LIMÓN RISING

New port brings development to Caribbean coast

by Fred Denton

About $1 billion will be invested in provincially funded enhancements to health services, schools, housing, roads, security and culture.

The attributes of Costa Rica’s “other” coast, the Caribbean, and its port city of Limón are sometimes overlooked or underrated, but that could soon be changing with a new port and development.

Having weathered some rough times over the years, Limón is poised for an economic turnaround with regional and national ripple effects that should leave few sectors untouched. A new $1.1 billion container terminal, scheduled to open in February 2019, will be unprecedented in scale and scope and have a transformational impact on Limón port operations..

Limón retains a certain mystique as a sort of wild, untamed paradise where bananas are grown, cocaine enters Central America for transshipment and miles of undeveloped tropical beaches run from the city’s outskirts to the Panama border. Some perceive it to be the kind of place where people truly wanting to “fall off the map” are drawn, fancying the notion of a

cold beer and a traditional plate of whole fried snapper, accompanied by rice and beans with coconut oil.

Original gateway to the world

On Christopher Columbus’ fourth and final voyage to the New World, he landed in 1502 at Isla Uvita, off the coast of Limón. Columbus was greeted by the Carib Indians, who were festooned with gold jewelry, which he thought was an indication of the “riches” to be found in the country. Some speculate that this gave rise to the country's name, "Rich Coast,” though the jewelry may have been obtained through trading.

Limón was formally founded in 1854 but remained sparsely uninhabited until 1867, when construction began on the railroad that would connect the country’s new port with the Central Valley to facilitate the export of coffee with

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2014 Aerial shot of Limón and its old cargo port, Puerto Alemán (German Port), which is slated for major renovation to receive cruise ships. The new Moín Container Terminal has moved to the bay in the upper right part of this photo, and is no longer in the downtown area.

Vargas Park bandshell, directly in front of the ocean and the old port of Limón.

Photos courtesy of José Gerardo Suárez Monge

bananas planted parallel to the railway. The resulting movement of coffee created an economic boom in Costa Rica and a noticeable increase in wealth in the capital.

Costa Rica’s total population at the time was about 150,000 inhabitants, and Limón became its gateway to the world.It was the most cosmopolitan city in Costa Rica, with an influx of Jamaican and Chinese workers, as well as Italian, German, English and American engineers and merchants who arrived to seek their fortune here.

Natural attractions

Today, Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast has much to offer as a destination for tourists, investors and business people. Limón province covers an area of

approximately 9,200 square kilometers (3,500 square miles) and is home to some 450,000 people, about 9 percent of the country’s total population.

The region’s pristine natural beauty is unparalleled, with more than 300 square kilometers of unspoiled beaches and a denseness of biological diversity

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like few other places on earth. The distinctive Afro-Caribbean-based culture is showcased in local traditions centered around food, song, dance, language and customs.

Tortuguero National Park, whose name translates to “turtle nesting ground,” is a Caribbean destination for many Costa Rican travel itineraries. As one of the country’s most visited national park attractions, Tortuguero encompasses 11 different coastal habitats, including rainforest, mangroves, swamps

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and lagoons. The 22-mile long border of beaches is a protected area where sea turtles lay their eggs, including the hawksbill, loggerhead, green and leatherback species. Other wildlife found in the park include more than 300 bird species, manatees, crocodiles, caimans, jaguars, sloths, tapirs, river otters, peccaries, poison dart frogs, and three monkey species.

Puerto Viejo is a Caribbean beach town popular for surfing and the laidback lifestyle, with an appealing selection of boutique hotels, shops, restaurants and bars.

Nearby are the Talamanca mountains, home to the Bribri indigenous people, and a desirable locale for many retreats and spas.

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New Moin Container Port with Post-Panamax cranes Below: 2018-2019 operational timeline

Limón today

The city of Limón, with close to 70,000 residents, is located about 150 kilometers (90 miles) east of San José, making the trip a three-hour drive or 20-minute flight.

Limón has always been vitally important to Costa Rica’s international trade economy. It’s the country’s hub for approximately 80 percent of all maritime imports and exports, including the majority of coffee, bananas and pineapple shipments.

Graph below indicates the projected increase in trade, productivity, GDP and employment with the new port.

Container terminal mega-project

As Costa Rica’s largest public infrastructure project ever, the Moín Container Terminal (MCT) is expected to attract the country’s largest share of foreign direct investment to the surrounding areas over the next 10 years. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, Costa Rica currently has one of the poorest ratings for international port infrastructure quality — in 138th place out of 143 countries. Limón’s new port is bound to boost that ranking when factored into future global comparisons. MCT’s vastly larger capacity will make it possible to accommodate vessels four times larger than those currently

handled in the area, a first for Costa Rica. Improved efficiencies in handling, unloading and turning around ships are expected to reduce costs by 40 percent and enlarge Costa Rica’s global trade footprint by 23 percent. This translates nationally to 147,000 new jobs and a $2.9 billion GDP infusion.

Limón’s local labor force will benefit from the creation of 550 new jobs directly related to MCT and 1,100 indirectly related jobs.

In addition, a new concession fee structure set by the Costa Rican government requires 7.5 percent of the net income from MCT’s operations to be remitted for regional development. Totaling about $1 billion over a 30-year period, this money will be invested

All infographics courtesy of EDILEX (Hill & Knowlton Strategies) and APM Terminal Moin Presentation, August 2018

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Graph from the World Economic Forum, Executive Opinion Survey 2017, listing the top factors hindering Costa Rica’s competitiveness in the world .

in provincially funded enhancements to health services, schools, housing, roads, security and culture. Other new opportunities for Limón area residents might relate to training and skills development, renewable energy initiatives and wildlife conservation programs.

APM Terminals

Construction and operation of MCT is being spearheaded by APM Terminals, a division of the Dutch shipping firm Maersk.

Phase one got underway in 2015. It took 2.1 million tons of rocks to create the 80-hectare artificial island site for a 1,500-meter quay with a depth of 16 meters and 18-meter-deep access channel. Work crews have placed 16,000 interlocking blocks on the ground surface and inserted 880 pylons.

This building activity alone has been good for local business in Limón. Notably,

it can be lucrative if your customers need transportation, meals, lodging and building materials. But the expansion has been profitable in other markets too, ranging from port-a-potty rentals to sales of bedding and beer!

Villa La Sata, Flamingo Titled Ocean Front

Casa Roca, Tamarindo Beach Front

Casa Monos, Oceanfront Playa Flamingo

Robert Davey bob@bdavey.com Cel: 8870.8870

Casa Risco, Flamingo Ocean Front Luxury

Brian Bratton brian@ppcire.com Cel: 8704.9997

Casa Blanca, Flamingo Beach Front Jewel

Max Arata max.arata@ppcire.com Cel: 8407.1898

San José Office 2288-0483

Tamarindo Office 2653-0300

Flamingo Office 2654-4004

S pecia liz ing in C ost a Ric a R eal Es t a t e fo r o ve r 2 7 y e a r s !

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CR SPOTLIGHT

Entrance to Metallic Pier, 1930

Limón: The Early History

by José Gerardo Suárez Monge and Karl Kahler

CR HISTORY IN PHOTOS

These pirates were part of the struggle to control the Caribbean.

The first place the Spanish landed in Central America was Quiribrí Island, known today as Uvita Island, off the coast of Limón. Still, the Caribbean coast was one of the last areas to be conquered. The difficulty of the terrain, the climate and the dense jungle, along with disease and indigenous resistance, made the Caribbean a very difficult place to colonize.

The history taught in schools tells us the Caribbean was an isolated and uninhabited place, full of mosquitoes and snakes. Yet the coast was inhabited by the Miskitos, a mestizo people who apparently arose from a mix of indigenous tribes and African slaves. This group was very important and powerful during the colonial period, in part because it was supported by England.

At that time Spain had to compete with several other world powers: England, France and Holland. The constant warfare was focused, among other places, in the Caribbean Sea, giving rise to the pirate legends of the movies today. These pirates were part of the struggle to control the Caribbean because for those countries it was a very important territory, one that permitted lucrative commerce but was monopolized by Spain.

In this context, England captured Belize, while France took Martinique and Guadeloupe in 1635. In 1655 the English also took Jamaica and created a system for smuggling English goods to the Captaincy General of Guatemala, of which the province of Costa Rica was a part.

In those same years, business and landowners in Costa Rica started planting cacao in the Matina area. Cacao was an important

A passion for historical photos

Photos are provided courtesy of

José Gerardo Suárez Monge, author of “San José: 280 Years of History.” Suárez is a professional photographer and graphic designer with a degree in electrical engineering from the Tecnológico in Cartago, but his passion is collecting and analyzing historical photos — he has over 14,000. He has six books for sale, which are available at Librería Lehmann and the University of Costa Rica bookstore, or by calling 7062-3086 or 8794-7679.

product for the province of Limón for several reasons:

• There was no other significant commercial activity, which enabled some people to amass fortunes.

• It required minimal colonization of the coast.

• It allowed landowners to bring and trade African slaves, who would play a major role in the history of the region.

• It allowed Costa Ricans to join the English in the smuggling trade, which became one of the major enterprises in the province.

Smuggling and international rivalry brought a lot of economic activity to the Caribbean coast. There were fishing towns, lumber towns, small colonies like Matina and missionaries attempting to evangelize. The coast was hardly uninhabited, although there were no cities.

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