The Port of Mayagüez, located northwest of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Mayagüez in

Mayagüez Bay Mayagüez Bay ( es, Bahía de Mayagüez) is a bay located in western Puerto Rico. The bay has recently been opened to the city of Mayagüez with the building of the Parque del Litoral because of the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. Th ...

, is the third busiest port on

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. The port is situated along Puerto Rico routes 64, 341, and 3341, and stretches for 3.8 miles along the coast. Its main canal is 0.4 miles wide and its depth ranges from 47 to 120 feet; the water's depth along the piers ranges between 28 and 29 feet. The port is protected from rough seas by reefs which run along its northern and western sections. Until April 2010, the port's main tenant was Ferries del Caribe which provided daily

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

service to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. Its sole vessel, Caribbean Express (1976/ 18,888 gt) was scrapped at Alang in late 2010. Since March 2011, ferry service to the Dominican Republic has been offered by America Cruise Ferries. During the Winter 2010/2011 cruise season, the port was visited periodically by ships of the

Holland America Line Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...

, including the MS ''Prinsendam''.

History

By 1754, six years before being officially declared a town, the

was already identified by name in the cartography of the era. Yet until the middle of the seventeen hundreds there was no official commercial activity with the

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

, contraband was the only commerce that existed. The

Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 The Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 (Spanish: ''Real Cédula de Gracias'') is a legal order approved by the Spanish Crown in the early half of the 19th century to encourage Spaniards and, later, Europeans of non-Spanish origin, to settle in and pop ...

stimulated the immigration of foreigners with money and slaves. By 1838 the

Customs House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

or Aduana was opened. From 1813 to 1824, 1818 to 1820 and 1826 to 1827 it became the largest exporter of goods to the international markets in all of Puerto Rico. In 1827 a road was constructed from the city center to the port area. In 1858, the Cyclopedia of Commerce and Commercial Navigation identified the port of Mayagüez as the most important port in the island of Puerto Rico. Being one of the main ports in Spanish Puerto Rico, the Municipal Government had built a dock and a longhouse to facilitate the loading and unloading of goods by 1836. For some time it was maintained by municipal funds until 1886 when the "Junta de Obras del Puerto" begun to operate the facilities. Its modern incarnation was built in 1935 as the "Mayagüez Shipping Terminal". In 1959 it became property of the

Puerto Rico Ports Authority The Puerto Rico Ports Authority (PRPA) ( es, Autoridad de los Puertos; AP) is a government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico charged with developing, operating, and overseeing all seaports and airports in Puerto Rico. The Authority is ascribed to ...

. At one time before 1940 it became the main port for exporting sugar from Puerto Rico. It is presently owned by the Municipal Government of Mayagüez and since 2007 it is administered by Holland Group.

References

The port of Mayaguez no longer has ferry service. The new owners of the leasing right is name Mayaguez development corporation. The port has no active ongoing operations. {{DEFAULTSORT:Port of Mayaguez Ports and harbors of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

History

See also

References