Mid February 2025
Introduction
Tourism represents about two percent of the Puerto Rican economy. Manufacturing, at about 43%, is the largest sector. These data come from a recent report of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, which is known locally as PROMESA. PROMESA is an acronym of the Board’s name in Spanish. Here is a link to that report.
I don’t know PROMESA’s methodologies but the two percent figure seems low. I’ve read other estimates that suggest tourism accounts for about 15% of the economy.
Even at 15%, most visitors would probably that that was a low estimate. Tourists often stay in the heavily tourist areas of Old San Juan, Condado, and Isla Verde with occasional forays to the rain forest (El Yunque) and other island destinations. But tourists are rarer in other parts of the island.
The government here has a master plan to increase tourism. I have heard of the plan, talked with Puerto Rican friends about it, but have never seen it. As I understand it, there are several components of the plan but two are to: increase cruise ship visits and attract more luxury mega yachts. I see evidence of some changes in the port now in support of these goals.
Port Changes
Past Uses
We can, from our balcony, see Piers 14 and 15 of the Port of San Juan. We used to watch ships carrying steel, cars, and occasionally coal come into Pier 14 and unload. Once we watched as a ship was loaded with chunks of concrete, apparently headed somewhere to be ground up and used as aggregate in new concrete mixes.
Here is a freighter unloading steel at Pier 14. The fork lifts arrive about the same time as the ship and move rebars, rolls of spring steel, and coils of steel wire onto the surface.
The forklift is transporting two rolls of steel wire. After the ship is emptied, the forklifts load a steady stream of flat bed trucks.
These stacks of rebars will be loaded onto flat bed trucks.
This is a vehicle carrying new cars from Korea, Japan or perhaps the assembly plants in Vera Cruz, Mexico.
New cars are being driven off the ship. Drivers deliver cars from the ship to the pier and then are taken by van back onto the ship for more cars. It takes about eight hours to unload s ship this size.
This ship is taking on chunks of concrete. I’m not sure where it will be taken but it will be crushed, graded by size, and used as aggregate in new concrete.
This ship, from Amsterdam, has a deck cargo of new yachts. The stevedores were vary careful as they unloaded some of them and put them directly onto special trailers.
The Future?
We no longer see activities like these at Piers 14 and 15. The activity has moved to the new port area on the other side of the bay, or perhaps to Ponce, on the Caribbean coast.
According to my Puerto Rican friends who have seen the Master Plan, the frontage along piers 14 and 15 and adjoining piers will become a pedestrian-friendly area with walkways, restaurants, sitting areas. Perhaps water taxis will ply the harbor. The idea is to direct visitors from Old San Juan along this part of the port, and perhaps around to District T Mobile, a recently completed area with bars, restaurants,and entertainment venues, located near the Convention Center.
Yachts and Cruise Ships
The Master Plan calls for more cruise ship activity and for more mega-yachts to be homeported here.
Now, mega-yachts have occasionally visited here. For example, the unique Yacht A came a few years ago.
Motor Yacht A belongs to a Russian oligarch and has not been in port for several years. I’ve written about her previously – check out my posts here and here.
Likewise, the mega-yacht Eclipse has not been here for a while.
I also wrote about her in an earlier post.
While visits by these super yachts are undoubtedly welcome, the idea is to make the port available for smaller, but still mega, yachts. And that has already started. Piers 8, 9 and 10 have been converted from freight piers to docking area for large yachts.
Two large yachts moored at Pier 9. Small freighters used to leave from here, carrying 6 or 8 containers to Vieques or Culebra, the two Puerto Rican island east of the large island.
A large yacht moored at Pier 8.
Work has begun to increase cruise ship activity, both in terms of home porting and one day visits. Pier 3 was lengthened to accommodate the largest cruise ships. However, last April the end of the pier was damaged by a cruise ship leaving port. Repairs are continuing but the largest cruise ships cannot be accommodated yet.
The tents house construction equipment to affect repairs on the east side pf Pier 3. Until completed and inspected by the Coast Guard, only smaller cruise ships can dock at this pier.
Summary
Puerto Rico has a master plan to increase tourism. It includes rethinking the current port activities, and attracting more cruise ships and yachts. When will it it be implemented? I suspect no one knows that for sure.
Notes and Sources
The photos are all mine, taken with a digital camera and edited with Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop. I learned of discussions of the MAster Plan in informal talks with my Puerto Rican friends.