2021 Travel News ArchiveTravel

Inauguration of Taino Bay port in Puerto Plata

President Luis Abinader was in Puerto Plata on Thursday, 16 December 2021 for the inauguration of Taino Bay. The port terminal features a cruise ship terminal and cargo terminal.

The Taino Bay is a public-private partnership that has called for a US$80 million investment in the first stage.

President Abinader was present for the arrival of the first cruise ship to the port, the MSC Seashore with 1,700 tourists from Miami, Florida, USA on 15 December 2021, a stop on a five-night cruise in the Caribbean. The ship also stops in Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Georgetown (Cayman Island), Cozumel (Mexico), Ocean Cay (Bahamas), San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Charlotte Amalie (U.S. Virgin Islands). The new ship had been inaugurated in November 2020.

Pandemic allowing, the new passenger port expects to receive upwards of 700,000 cruise ship passengers in 2022, according to Mauricio Hamui, CEO of the ITM company, the Mexican company responsible for the new terminal. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Virgin Voyages, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, TUI Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises are booked to arrive at the port that is adjacent to the historic center of Puerto Plata.

The new port of Taino Bay has three berths. Its passenger reception center has the capacity to accommodate 14,000 cruise passengers simultaneously. This terminal will generate some 1,500 direct jobs and 3,500 indirect jobs.

Speaking for the occasion, President Abinader announced the government has allocated RD$150 million for works to enhance the Puerto Plata historic center in 2022, practically adjacent to the new port.

Speaking for Taíno Bay, Mauricio Hamui, described the port as a great infrastructure work where piers, landfills, dredging and piles were made at more than 40 meters deep in record time. Construction of the port had begun in January 2019.

The cruise ship terminal is the second to open in Puerto Plata. Amber Cove was the first, and opened in 2015 mainly to serve Carnival Cruises. The opening of Taino Bay makes Puerto Plata the only destination in the Caribbean to have two cruise ship terminals.

Read more in Spanish:
Ministry of Tourism
Presidency

21 December 2021