Barcadera is the main

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

for cargo ships in

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

. It is located in Barcadera, district Santa Cruz and was officially opened on 12 April 2016.

History

Plans to create the harbour began in 1994. The harbour at Oranjestad was large enough, however the cargo ships had to share the port with

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "sho ...

s which often caused problems. The first priority was to move the

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example trai ...

. Work began in 2011, and the move was completed in 2015. On 12 April 2016, the Barcadera harbour was officially opened by Prime minister

Mike Eman Michiel Godfried "Mike" Eman (born September 1, 1961) is an Aruban politician who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Aruba from 2009 to 2017. His political career began in 2001, but Eman has been involved in politics in one way or another since ...

. The existing harbour at Oranjestad needed to be

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

. The dredging started in 2018, and the sand was used to reclaim of land extending the Barcadera terminal.

Free Zone

A part of the harbour has been designated a free zone. It is one of two free zones in Aruba. For licensed companies engaging in sustainable projects, there are 0% import duties and other taxes, and a 2% profit tax.

References

Ports and harbours in Aruba Oranjestad, Aruba Free ports {{Port-stub