usaid office of food for peace guatemala bellmon estimation

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Chapter 4. Adequacy of Ports, Storage, and Transport
4.1. Introduction
The Bellmon Amendment requires that adequate storage facilities are available in the recipient
country at the time of exportation of the commodity to prevent the spoilage or waste of the
commodity. The BEST team investigated Guatemala's ports, storage facilities, and transport
routes in July and August 2011, and found them capable of handling current food aid tonnages.
4.2. Major Ports
4.2.1. Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla
Overview. All distributed food aid destined for Guatemala is currently imported through Puerto
Santo Tomás, as well as monetized shipments of Crude Degummed Soy Oil (CDSO). 57
The
publically-owned port is located in Izabal, on the Atlantic coast. Santo Tomás handles roughly
4,088,549 MT per year (Puerto Santo Tomás, 2010) 58
, and currently operates at about 75
percent of its total capacity (Personal communication, port authorities, July 2011). In the month
of June 2011, the port received 345,270 MT. Of this total tonnage, 63 percent was containerized
(Puerto Santo Tomás, 2011). Roughly four to five vessels offload at Puerto Santo Tomás per
day and each ship takes about three to five hours to offload. Traffic is steady throughout the
year, but slightly heavier during November and December, when the country exports melons.
The port has six berths with a total dock area of 677,640 m 2 , and an average depth of 11
meters. The port is fully-equipped with tugboats, mobile cranes, forklifts, and trucks. Most
services are managed by the port, but private actors own some services such as crane
operation and transport. The port also offers a total storage area of 289,256 m 2 , which includes
container yards (about 97,200 m 2 ) and covered storage (about 28,700 m 2 ) (Puerto Santo
Tomás, 2010).
Port authorities stated that there is no prioritization of cargo, except for cruise ships or ships with
perishable cargo. Port authorities and PVO staff agreed that the average time to offload and
clear food aid shipments at Santo Tomás is about one month.
Offloading. Once the vessel berths, drug enforcement and health representatives inspect the
ship, which can take up to two hours. Then port employees offload the containers with the help
of cranes (Kent, 2003). Next, the cargo's seal is inspected before it is handled by customs and
the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food (MAGA, "Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, y
Alimentación"), as described in the section below.
Inspection and Fumigation. The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (MSPAS,
"Ministerio de Salud Pública y Asistencia Social) and MAGA are in charge of inspection and
fumigation of commodities, though the International Regional Organism for Animal Health
57
Santo Tomás also recieves some food aid destined for El Salvador.
58
Of this, average import volumes account for slightly over half, at 2,281,968 MT.
BEST Analysis – Guatemala Chapter 4 – Adequacy of Ports, Storage, and Transport 39