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CAFTA is Catalyst for New Service From Port of Houston

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 12:00 CDT

Aug. 23--A major shipper in and out of the Port of Houston has kicked off new service here, in part because of the Central American Free Trade Agreement that was signed into law recently.

Port of Houston Authority commissioners were briefed Monday on the service, which started from Houston earlier this month.

NYK Line is providing new "roro" service -- or carrying vehicles and equipment that can be rolled on and rolled off ships -- from Houston and Tampa.

In Central America, vessels are calling at Santo Tomas in Guatemala; Puerto Limn in Costa Rica; and Puerto Cortes in Honduras.

The vessels also are calling at ports in the Caribbean and South America, noted Patrick Cooper, the Houston-based area manager for NYK Line's roro division.

NYK is expecting to carry used cars into Central America and road-building equipment into Central America, the Caribbean Islands and South America, Cooper said.

CAFTA was a factor in the global shipping line's decision to start the service out of Houston and Tampa, Cooper said.

NYK, Cooper said, is hoping that CAFTA will help countries in that region get financing to build new infrastructure, which would in turn require equipment to be shipped there.

"One of the big things CAFTA gives them is financing ability, which they have been a little short on over the years," Cooper said.

The trade pact -- with the countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic -- eliminates trade barriers and opens the region wider to U.S. goods and services. The agreement also is aimed at lowering obstacles to investment in the area.

As part of its new service, NYK is doing business with Caterpillar between South America and the United States, Cooper said, bringing in that company's equipment from Brazil to Mexico and the U.S.

"That is new business for the Port of Houston," he said.

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CAT,

Source: Houston Chronicle

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