New port at La Union opens

A story in the Latin American Herald Tribune reports on the opening of El Salvador's new port at La Union for cargo ships:

SAN SALVADOR – President Mauricio Funes inaugurated the port of La Union on the Gulf of Fonseca, which El Salvador shares with Honduras and Nicaragua, with the aim of making the area a pole of development for the Central American country.

Funes, accompanied by Victor Hugo Garnica, the representative of the president of Honduras, on Monday officially initiated operations at the port that was completed by the construction company in early 2009, thanks to a loan from Japan.

The president said that the port cost some $200 million and that the way it will be administered in coming years has yet to be decided, though a concession for part of the operations might well be granted to a foreign company.

Funes also urged business owners to invest in the area in order to create a port city that will be a “pole of development” for the nation.

He promised that the port will become an “attractive” terminal for unloading cargoes bound for El Salvador and other Central American countries.

The port is located at La Union in eastern El Salvador on the Gulf of Fonseca. The Gulf is bordered by Nicaragua and Honduras in addition to El Salvador.

The port has a website here.