Costa Rica Exports were Left to Rot on Monday.

This past Monday, March 10th, 2008, the main ports on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica were shut down for 8 hours. Port Moín and Port Limón are the most important commercial ports on the Caribbean coast and are used by passenger cruise ships and commercial container ships carrying Costa Rica’s import and export products.

Due to the labor protests, 8 container ships and the Carnival Miracle cruise ship, carrying 2,300 tourists and 1,000 crew members, were unable to dock. According to Associated Press sources, a small cruise ship (Saga Ruby), carrying mostly senior citizens, was one of the only boats able to dock during the protest.

The Costa Rican government estimates that this labor protest cost the country more than $300,000 (140 million colones) in losses. This figure does not take into account the losses suffered by many other boats waiting to load bananas, pineapples and melons for export. Many fear much of this fresh produce may be lost due to spoilage and the blow to Limón’s already-struggling tourist industry is severe.

What Caused the Protests?

The Sintrajap labor union, representing port workers in Limón Province, and Japdeva, the state-run company that manages Puerto Limón and Puerto Moín, went on strike to protest the government’s plan to modernize Costa Rica’s ports. Part of President Arias’ improvement project is to allow private companies to manage seaports through a concession system. Costa Rica already implemented this concession plan in the main port on the Pacific Coast, Puerto Caldera, about a year and a half ago. Replacing Puerto Caldera’s government-run administration with a private company has been a resounding success to date and has brought the country and local governments enormous growth.

This is not the first time Sintrajap and Japdeva workers have protested. In previous occasions, protesters slowed down Limón’s port system to a virtual standstill for as much as 3 days and the losses were estimated to be in the millions of dollars.

Looking Ahead

Monday’s protests ended at 2:00 pm local time when the port’s workers went back to their normal responsibilities. It is yet to be seen what will develop from these protests and whether the government will try to negotiate with the Japdeva and Sintrajap, or if they will take action to prevent harmful economic disturbances like this.

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John D. Kloninger is a online marketer Living in Costa Rica. Born in California, he grew up in San Jose and then went on to University in Honolulu, HI and Boston, MA. You can contact him at jkloninger@gmail.com.

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Filed under: Costa Rica News on March 12th, 2008