At the moment, trucks entering and exiting the port of Santo Domingo (right opposite my office) transit the section of the Malecon between the port gate and both ends of the restricted area, as there is no other way. I don't know how AMET and the drivers deal with it, but I guess the almighty syndicate has that sorted.
The Sans Souci terminal across the other side of the river estuary next to the DR Navy (Armada de la Republica) handles the big cruise liner passenger ships and pure car carriers and is beginning to handle regular cargo vessels too. Most of the imported cars and motor vehicles of all kinds are unloaded at Sans Souci.
Between Sans Souci and the floating bridge is the Molinos Modernos Grain facility where grains are discharged from bulk carrying vessels by automated elevators and stored in the large silos visible from the Colonial City.
Cargo handling at the old port is being phased out with the exception of the cargo ferry lines to Puerto Rico which account for most of the container traffic there. The Don Diego passenger terminal where the passenger ferry and some of the smaller cruise liner ships dock, is outside the restricted area of the Malecon as is the asphalt terminal between Don Diego and the floating bridge.
The port at the Caucedo Multi Modal Free Zone, next to Las Americas International Airport, is operated by Dubai Port World (DPW) and was constructed about 10 years ago on privately owned land. It handles almost exclusively container traffic - import, export and transit cargo. As can be expected, it is extremely efficient, and even the large container ships calling there are turned around in a matter of hours. About 4-5 ships can berth at Caucedo simultaneously. On the end of the Caucedo promontory, AES has a LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) terminal - the white bubble that can be seen from Santo Domingo on a clear day.
The old port of Andres (Boca Chica) which lies on the coast between the port of Caucedo and the yachting marinas, Club Nautico and Zar Par, is used mainly for ships laid-up for repair although some general cargo - mainly imported forest products is handled there, particularly convenient for the nearby La Americas Free Zone.
The port at La Romana is owned and operated by the Central La Romana sugar concern, cargo handling is mainly export of dry bulk (sugar) and liquid sugar products, import of fuel oil and passenger cruise liners also dock there in the cruise season.
San Pedro de Macoris has an old port facility, mainly serving the local cement industry, imports of clinker in bulk and export of cement in bulk and bagged as well as fuel oil and gas terminals.
There are also fuel terminals at Palenque, Puerto Viejo Azua and there is a ship-to-ship transfer operation of liquid gas in the Bay of Ocoa where incoming bulk gas is offloaded into "mother ship" storage and then transferred to smaller "feeder" tankers for distribution to local ports and terminals.
In the far south west in Pedernales close to the border with Haiti is the port of Cabo Rojo, operated under licence by Cemento Adinos where currently bauxite in bulk is loaded for export on huge bulk carrier vessels. Due to the size of these ships the operations are conducted at an off-shore moorage with floating cranes loading the ships from large barges towed from the shore.
Rio Haina is, I think, still the country's largest volume port, handling both containerized and general cargo of all kinds. There is also the Refidomsa refinery terminal and both dry and liquid bulk handling facilities on both sides of the river. A few kilometres outside Haina there is the coal handling terminal for the ITABO power station.
That about sums up the ports on the south coast, the major cargo ports in the north are Arroyo Barill (Samana), Puerto Plata and Manzanillo (Pepillo Salcedo).
