Major 5 Ports in Honduras

Honduras is in Central America and is well known for its natural resources from coffee to minerals and a growing textiles industry. It sits nestled between El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua and has both the Pacific and Caribbean Sea coastlines on the north and south of it respectively.

Honduras has commercial cities which are the capital Tegucicalpa and San Pedro Sula. Both are hubs of industry and commerce that drive the economy of the country. But the ports within the country are perhaps the biggest reason for economic advancement in the country. The ports open up Honduras to trade routes in the Pacific and the Caribbean.

1. Port of Puerto Cortes

Port of Puerto Cortes happens to be the only deep water port in the whole of Central America. It’s also one of the region’s best equipped and largest ports. This port was originally known as Puerto de Caballos and it lies on the northern part of the country in the Caribbean sea waters. Because it has a natural bay can handle large vessels with a capacity of 10 vessels at a time.

It has a large docking space of 4,000 feet and it has a 24-hour service with vessels going to Miami seven times a week, four times a week to New York and four times to New Orleans. Vessels from the port also operate to the Far East and Europe at least twice a week. The port is a designated safe port in the region which is why it sees a lot of cargo traffic. This means it can safely take the mega ships that cross the Panama canal.

2. Port of Tela

This port is also located in the northern Caribbean coast. It became an influential point of commerce in 1914 when it officially became the headquarters of Tela railroad company. This was a subsidiary of the United fruit company which would bring bananas from the interior of Honduras into the port for export.

The railway has remained intact and operational still ferrying the banana crop which is the main export product from this region to the port. It’s still referred to as the banana port since Honduras is among the fifteen countries that supplies over half of the world’s banana exports. In 2018 the country exported bananas worth $522.7 million from this port. The port of Tela also handles coconut as well as other agricultural produce.

3. Port of Puerto Castilla

Puerto Castilla is actually as small fishing village but the port facilities are some of the best in the entire country. They are home to the Honduran Naval base and also house a container facility for fresh fruits produced by Dole. It also sits in the midst of the African Oil Palm plantations that have began to grow in the region. It is set to become the main port of call for the exportation of the oil

The port is also served by roads and the Aguan river valley railway that lead to the country’s forestry project which produces the lumber that Honduras famously exports as well.

4. Port of La Ceiba

The port of La Ceiba lso lies in the Caribbean sea waters but on the southern tip of the coastline. It borders the Gulf of Honduras and the city is the third largest in the country. The port was developed into a modern port throughout the 19th century as it became a crucial shipping port for the exportation of banana port. As an agricultural port it also handles the bulk of the produce like citrus fruits, pineapples, coconuts, fish, coffee, meat, and lumber.

The city holds a famous carnival for the Spanish San Isidro Labrador every May which attracts over 500,000 tourists. Ceiba is also considered the entertainment capital of Honduras and the Eco-tourism capital of Honduras which translates to an influx of tourists coming into the city. The port has an excellent cruise terminal to cater to cruise liners bringing passengers into the country for various tourist attractions.

5. Port of San Lorenzo

This port lies in the Pacific Ocean waters on the southern end of Honduras near the Gulf of Fonseca shores. It was built to mitigate the inconvenience of using the old port of Ampalla and has to be dredged to allow vessels to be able to berth in the port. It can take a capacity of 1.1 million tons of cargo annually. The port of San Lorenzo also serves nearby industrial cities that process products like pitch pine which is a huge export product from the Honduras.

It also handles cargo like vegetable oil, dairy and shrimp which come from the local industries and processing plants. The port also has the advantage of being served by the nearby Ampala airport which moves goods and products to and from the port.