Puerto Caldetra Now In Private Hands
Now that the Puerto Caldera - the Pacific coast shipping docks - is under private administration, the consortium that won the concession, has begun to put the port in order.

Beginning yesterday, the Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera took over the port and its first act was to tighten security by restricting truck movement in the port, uni-forming all port employees and restricting access to the loading docks.

All Caldera port employees will now carry badge identification that will need to be used at electronic points of entry, completely controlling access to and from the port installations. Dock workers can no longer unload a ship in sandals and shorts. Safety wear is required at all times.

The changeover from a government run port to a privatized one began at the 12:01 Saturday morning. The privatized dock workers began to unload their first cargo off te Ken Unity carrying 40.000 tonnes of corn and soya.

The 32 former dock workers of the Instituto Costarricense de Puertos del Pacífico (Incop) were now working for private enterprise.

The change has caused some disagreement among customs agents who are also required to adhere to the dress code and who no longer have free access to the docks as in the past when Incop ran things.

One of the major changes to the Caldera port that it will now operate 24 hours a day, along with the Aduana de Caldera (Customs office).

According to Omar Jiménez, the change was required to have better control of the port and reduce the loss of merchandise.

For example the Aduana (customs) is looking for recover from Incop duty tax on 11 vehicles that came into the country, but disappeared on the "patios" of Caldera during the last five years alone. Many other similar claims have been common at the port.