The cranes' arrival will enable the Port to become a containerised cargo hub in the Carribean region.

The cranes were manufactured by China-based firm ZPMC, and were purchased through a $22.7-million investment, financed by the Government Development Bank (GDB).

The investment is part of the current administration’s wider economic development plan for Puerto Rico - dubbed the Strategic Model for a New Economy (MENE).

“The Port of the Americas is an integral part of the MENE, which is our plan to restore growth and improve our economy’s competitiveness through the development of infrastructure, housing and other types of construction projects,” said Puerto Rico Governor, Luis G. Fortuño.

The Governor intends to turn the Port of the Americas into a world-class international transshipment harbor, with value-added zones in the southern region of Puerto Rico. The port’s operation promises to create some 8,025 direct jobs, with 12,038 additional direct and indirect jobs expected to be created during the project’s future phases.

The Port currently features a modern docking facility with a depth of 50 feet, alongside an area big enough to store 250,000 standard shipping containers (also known as twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs). The port also has the second-deepest harbor in the Caribbean, after Freeport, Bahamas.