A study by the UCR revealed that promoting an increase in demand for port services could create more than 5,500 new jobs for the country and increase revenues by up to 1.86% of GDP.
In evaluating the current and future capacity of ports to respond to the needs of economic development, it is obvious that maritime transport continues to be the main means of transporting exported and imported goods and that the trend has been increasing worldwide since 2002, notes the study.
Even with the competitive advantages that the Costa Rican territory has for the development of the maritime-port industry and the country’s interest in achieving greater and better insertion in global value chains, there is a significant lag in investment in the industry. This is reflected not only in a relative stagnation in terms of cargo carried over, but also in the loss of competitiveness in international measurements related to port infrastructure,”
said Luis Vargas, one of the researchers on the subject.
The investment in the installed capacity of the ports is fundamental to boost the industry. At the same time, political-institutional and legal reforms are required, which, through simplification of procedures and generation of incentives, contribute to a greater efficiency of the Costa Rican maritime-port industry.
The study concludes that encouraging the industry as well as inter-institutional coordination should be considered.