Port bottlenecks hamper Puerto Rico recovery

The Port of San Juan has reopened and is receiving oil supplies from tankers, as well as other shipping containers with vital supplies, but a shortage of vehicles, drivers and damaged infrastructure on the island, including blocked roads, is slowing down access to resources.

Florida-based ship operator Crowley Maritime said in a statement that it had “more than 3,000 loads of food, supplies and other cargo” in San Juan awaiting distribution.

Coordination is key

“We want to get goods to people as quickly and efficiently as possible, and to do that we need our customers to work with their truckers to take delivery of their cargo,” said Jose ‘Pache’ Ayala, vice president of Crowley Maritime Puerto Rico services.

“There are limited numbers of trucks, tankers for fuel, for transportation,” said Alejandro de la Campa, regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), reported The Maritime Executive. He is said to have declared: “We will bring [in] additional tankers. We are bringing in additional trucks.”

Crowley said five new container deck barges with a combined capacity of more than 3,800 20-foot equivalent containers (TEUs) have been placed into service along with accompanying tugboats to tow them.

They, along with Crowley’s existing vessel fleet, will operate continuously without a set schedule to get as much cargo to Puerto Rico as quickly as possible and as many empty containers out of the island so that they can be returned with full loads, said the company.

Diesel shortage

Puerto Rico is already suffering from a shortage of diesel fuel, which Puerto Rico needs for power generation as well as fuel, due to the electricity that is down across the island.

A large amount of the island’s petroleum passes through Buckeye’s Yabucoa terminal, which reopened for shoreside distribution last weekend. Product terminal operator Puma Energy Holdings also reopened its facilities this week.