On 21 July 2022, President Luis Abinader was in Samaná for the kickstarting of major maritime projects. Samaná province is getting improvements to its two public piers for fishing activities and maritime visitors in Sánchez and Samaná City. A modern cruise ship port private facility venture is also underway in Samaná City.
The dock in Sánchez, the sleepy fishermen’s town west of Samaná city, is getting new facilities for its fishermen.
When visiting Samaná for the start of the projects, President Abinader highlighted that the road leading to the Sánchez dock will be fixed up. He announced a comprehensive development plan would involve small business people, too. The government is investing RD$60 million in the new Sánchez facilities that will be ready by May 2023.
Sánchez is known for being the largest marine shrimp farm in the country. A breakwater with several sections will be creating, an exclusive access road for the fishermen, a catch management yard and a service area.
A mixed committee of Port Authority, Ministry of Tourism, fishermen consortium Codepesca, the Dominican Armada and the Monumental Cultural Heritage Office under architect Juan Mubarak are working to make the Samaná piers leading tourist attractions.
The bigger development is the intervention of the public dock of Samaná city in Samaná Bay, a RD$58 million investment by the government to demolish and construct a new breakwater. The port will continue to serve maritime transport to Sabana de la Mar to the south of Samaná Bay, the access point for touristic excursions to Cayo Levantado and Los Haitises, and whale-watching boat tours, plus sports fishing facilities. The public dock will be delivered in May 2023. It will have facilities to house sailing boats that today dock at sea safely.
In addition, the private venture, Samana Bayport, a US$22 million investment by Consorcio Temarsan in Samaná will serve half a million tourists a year arriving to the northeastern touristic destination, up from 50,000 a year at present. Over the past 17 years, the destination has received around 1.5 million cruise ship passengers docking at sea.
Samaná Bayport will have capacity to serve three cruise ships at the same time, up to 5,000 passengers simultaneously. Regarding the new cruise ship port, Jean Rodriguez, director of the Dominican Port Authority (Apordom) highlighted it is not about building a port, it is about building opportunities, capacities and growth. “We are building a better future for this blessed land,” he said.
The project calls for a cruise terminal that includes the remodeling of 30 Victorian-style houses. The urban renovation project overall encompasses restoring 50 Victorian-style houses under the Real Estate Restoration Project. The objective is to preserve and revalue the uniqueness of the most important buildings in terms of heritage and history of Sanchez and Samaná province, explained the director of Monumental Heritage Office, Juan Mubarak.
The Samaná Bayport is a US$22 million private project with the eventual capacity to receive up to 10,000 tourists per day. Temarsan Consortium, is an association of brothers Manuel and Jacinto Peynado with brothers Alex and Federico Schad, of the major Caribbean Frederic Schad logistics company (including DHL operations), based in Santo Domingo.
The operation of the cruise terminal is scheduled for November 2023 and will have the capacity to operate three cruise ships simultaneously. One of these will serve up to 5,000 passengers docked at a SeaWalk floating pier solution, incorporating state-of-the-art Norwegian technology. In addition to the SeaWalk, the project encompasses the operation of two cruise ships at anchorage with tenders operation.
Speaking for Temarsan during the event on 21 July 2022, Federico Schad said that the cruise ship project will transform the Samaná boardwalk into an attractive commercial area with more restaurants and shops and entertainment places. The terminal will be built in the area around the Whale Museum.
The pier developers are working with Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line to program the first ship arrivals for late 2023 and 2024.
The Samaná private cruise ship venture joins the two in Puerto Plata (Amber Cove, Taino Bay), Casa de Campo port in La Romana, and Sans Souci in Santo Domingo, as the country improves its stake on maritime travel in the Caribbean.
The port improvement projects are part of the strategic plan of the Dominican Port Authority (Apordom), under the management of Jean Luis Rodríguez Jiménez. The Port Authority has also announced the construction of another cruise ship port in Pedernales (by the same operators of Taino Bay in Puerto Plata) in the southwest. The government has also improved the fishermen docks in Boca Chica and Boca de Yuma, under the supervision of the Port Authority.
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CDN
26 July 2022