Port operator Global Ports Holding (GPH), based in London has submitted a bid for concession rights to a cruise ship dock in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The company is one of three entities competing to be downselected for the refurbishment, operation and maintenance of a number of piers under a public-private arrangement structure.
The tender includes Piers 1, 3, 4, Piers 11 through 14 in San Juan, and Pan American Piers I and II in Isla Grande.
The other two bidders are Puerto Rico Cruise Terminals Partners and San Juan Cruise Terminals Partners, a Puerto Rico Port Authority spokesperson confirmed to World Maritime News.
Some of the piers would require a total rebuild while others would necessitate only minor refurbishment.
GPH is seeking to expand its foothold in the region after previously landing a 25-year concession for the Prince George Wharf and related areas, at Nassau cruise port, in the Bahamas, and a 30-year deal with Antigua and Barbuda for cruise port operations in Antigua. In 2018, GPH signed a 15-year management agreement with the Cuban company Aries S.A. for the operation of the cruise port in Havana, Cuba.
Total consolidated revenues were USD 54.6 million, down 3.4 percent year on year, while the operating profit plunged by over 80 percent, from the USD 6.5 million in the first half of 2018 to USD 1.3 million for this year.
