By Wendy Anders

The French container company, CMA CGM S.A., the third largest container company in the world, alerted that a closure of a pier at the Moín dock in Limón on Costa Rica’s Atlantic coast has led to delays.

The delays will translate into an emergency surcharge for ships docking at the Moín port as of December 1, and will apply until the pier is reopened, said the company.

“For several weeks, lines have been facing a hectic and unstable port situation in Moín (Costa Rica), due to civil works resulting in the immobilization and closure of one pier out of three for an indefinite period,” said CMA CGM in a press statement.

CMA CGM uses 170 shipping routes between 400 ports in 150 different countries, said Wikipedia. Its headquarters are in Marseilles, France and its North American headquarters are in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

“In order to keep our service at the highest level, CMA CGM has no other choice but to take the necessary actions such as transferring vessels at Limón port, adjusting vessels speed…etc, all this leading to extra-costs,” said the company.

The “Emergency Port Congestion Surcharge” will apply to all import cargo entering Costa Rica at a rate of 100 Euros per TEU, said CMA CGM.

The TEU refers to the “twenty-foot equivalent unit,” a unit of cargo capacity used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals. It is based on the volume of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box which can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains and trucks, said Wikipedia.