Punta Cana's modern freight terminal could boost Dominican exports

Optimizing the air and marine transport processes and the handling of freight in airport terminals figure among Dominican Republic’s main challenges in diversifying and increasing its exports to major markets.

Thanks to the advances accomplished in that area, the retention of containers with perishable foodstuff such as the fruits and vegetables fell significantly in the last four years, affirmed National Competitiveness Council (CNC) director Andres Van Der Horst.

Speaking in the seminar Punta International Airport: Connecting the world for Import and Export” held in the Punta Cana Hotel, Van Der Horst specified that while in 2007 nearly 90% of Dominican products halted abroad were agricultural, a proportion which fell to little more than 40 percent in 2010.

He said 58% of Dominican products were held back as the result of deficiencies in labeling, and 38% from adulterations or mishandling mainly in the agricultural area.

The official said per classification, vegetables lead with 34% of returns, followed by drugs (26%), food and beverages (9%) and industrial items (8%). “A factor of concern is that where they’re most retained (local products) is precisely in Florida, a U.S. state that is Dominican Republic’s second biggest trade partner in the world.”

Van Der Horst cited the case of cassava from Moca a product “with which we had almost the entire Latino and US East Coast market, but which was lost because of problems of phytosanitary handling; we lost that market to Costa Rica and we’ve yet to recover it.”

Among the steps needed to advance in that area, the head of the CNC cited, “optimizing the use of air transport, the transport of perishables in refrigerated trucks, discard the use of air containers or palettes as much as possible, and to group themselves to negotiate spaces at lower and fixed prices.”

He added that air cargo already represents 35% of the world’s merchandise transport, and hailed the facilities provided by Punta Cana International Airport’s (AIPC) modern freight terminal.


Source: Dominican Today

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