A new economic benchmark is coming for caribbean cruise destinations
More than 30 cruise destinations across the Caribbean and Latin America are entering a new cycle of economic-impact measurement. The initiative, led by Tourism Economics, could give ports and tourism authorities a recurring benchmark for assessing not only what cruise activity contributes today, but how that contribution changes over time. The first studies are due […]
Panama’s next logistics bet is 5–6 Million TEUs of new transshipment capacity
Panama’s port system handled about 9.9 million TEU in 2025, reinforcing its position as one of Latin America’s largest container hubs. Now the country is preparing for another step-change: 5 to 6 million TEU of additional annual transshipment capacity through two proposed terminals, Corozal on the Pacific side and Telfers on the Atlantic. The scale […]
Tecon Santos 10: Can Brazil add capacity without adding concentration?
Brazil’s largest container gateway keeps getting busier. The Port of Santos handled a record 5.9 million TEU in 2025, while its wider cargo throughput reached 186.4 million tonnes. That performance makes the case for additional container capacity increasingly difficult to dispute. The harder question is who should control it. Tecon Santos 10, planned for the […]
A new maritime Rulebook for the world’s leading passenger-ship flag
On April 1, 2026, The Bahamas brought into force a modernised maritime framework built around the Merchant Shipping Act 2021 and a new suite of regulations covering registration, inspections, seafarer standards, maritime labour, safety investigations and technical certification. The reform replaced a legal structure rooted partly in legislation dating back to 1976. For the cruise […]
Mexico’s cruise passenger fee just doubled — Does it change port competitiveness?
Mexico has doubled the effective charge applied to eligible foreign cruise passengers, from the equivalent of US$5 to US$10 per person as of August 1, 2026. The increase comes while the country’s cruise market is still expanding rapidly: Mexican ports handled 6.5 million passengers in the first half of 2026, up 17.1% year on year. […]
The human infrastructure behind Caribbean green shipping
A port can build an ammonia bunkering facility. A shipping company can order a methanol-fuelled vessel. Neither investment delivers much value without people who know how to operate the technology safely. That human dimension is becoming increasingly important as shipping moves toward lower- and zero-emission fuels. From 3 to 7 August 2026, 24 participants from […]
Puerto Antioquia and the New Geography of Colombia’s Reefer Exports
A refrigerated container’s journey does not begin at the quay. For bananas, avocados and other fresh produce, every kilometre between the packing facility and the vessel adds time, road exposure and pressure on the cold chain. That is what makes Puerto Antioquia more than a conventional port-capacity story. Now operational on Colombia’s Caribbean coast in […]
PMAC – 29GA- Marine Pilotage : The strategic skill ports too often overlook
A port can invest in deeper berths, new cranes, digital platforms and larger terminals. But none of those assets creates value until a vessel can reach the quay safely. At the PMAC Annual General Meeting in Paramaribo, marine pilotage emerged as one of the less visible — but potentially most strategic — capabilities behind Caribbean […]
More cruise passengers are coming. Who captures the spend ?
The Caribbean/Bahamas/Bermuda remained the world’s largest cruise destination region in 2025, welcoming 16.27 million cruise passengers, up 8.4% from 15.01 million a year earlier. That meant more than 1.25 million additional visitors in a single year, with 44% of global cruise passengers sailing in the region. For Caribbean ports, that growth creates an obvious opportunity. […]
From Connectivity to Capital: What Will It Take to Turn Caribbean Opportunities into Investment?
As the Caribbean Investment Forum 2026 prepares to return to Barbados, a central question is emerging for the region: not whether investment opportunities exist, but whether the Caribbean can build the scale, infrastructure and investment-ready projects needed to compete for increasingly selective global capital. BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS — The Caribbean investment landscape has no shortage of […]
PMAC – 29GA- Food Security and Disaster Response: The Overlooked Role of Caribbean Schoone
When major shipping services are disrupted, the smallest vessels can become some of the most important. Across the Caribbean, schooners and small inter-island freighters continue to connect farmers, traders and island markets — while also providing a form of logistical resilience that becomes most visible during a crisis. After Hurricane Luis struck Saint-Martin in 1995, […]
Panama Links ISO Recertification to Broader Ship Registry Performance Push
Panama’s Directorate General of Merchant Marine has renewed the ISO 9001:2015 certification of its Quality Management System as the country works to strengthen the performance, accessibility and regulatory credibility of its international ship registry. The recertification was awarded by Bureau Veritas following an external audit, according to the Panama Maritime Authority. Announced on August 6, […]