Costa Rica Court Green Lights APM Terminal

APM and the Costa Rican government had originally signed a 33-year concession contract in 2011.

Costa Rica Supreme Court has given APM Terminals the go-ahead on a new container terminal after the project was delayed when port workers filed an appeal against the project. 

The Moin Container Terminal (TCM) will be built in Limon on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, which sees about 80 percent of the country's maritime commerce. 

APM, which is owned by Denmark's A.P. Moller–Maersk Group, will spend more than $1 billion on the terminal, expanding the number of vessels the port can hold to 13,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) boxships from 2,500. 

"The TCM will be a world class, modern, safe and efficient terminal operating under international standards and procedures, designed to boost Costa Rica´s international trade by taking full advantage of the economy of scale provided by the new-Panamax container vessels of up to 13,500 containers, vessels of up to five times larger than those which can be serviced in the country today," said Paul Gallie, managing director of APM Terminals for Central America. 

APM and the Costa Rican government had originally signed a 33-year concession contract in 2011 to design, finance, construct, operate and maintain the terminal. 

However the port workers' union filed an appeal that claimed that the terminal would give APM a monopoly over shipping commerce in the area. 

The project is currently awaiting approval from the countries environmental protection agency, which is expected to come sometime this month. 

Construction of the terminal is expected to take around three years. 

APM Terminals said last month that it is also currently fielding inquiries on a possible port development tied to the planned Nicaragua Canal.