Port of La Ceiba Coal Terminal
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Puerto La Ceiba is a port operated by Bolipuertos in La Ceiba, Trujillo, on the eastern shore of Lago de Maracaibo, Venezuela. As of September 2026 its coal handling facilities were presumed to be mothballed.
Location
Project Details
- Operator: Bolipuertos
- Location: La Ceiba, Trujillo, Venezuela
- Annual Coal Capacity (Tonnes): 600,000
- Status: Mothballed
- Type: Exports
- Sources of coal: Colombia
Background
The Port of La Ceiba historically handled coal exports; however, as of September 2026, there was no evidence of ongoing coal handling activity at the port, and its status as a coal terminal was presumed to be mothballed.
Between 2012 and 2015, Puerto La Ceiba exported 1.475 million tonnes of goods including coal, sugar, gypsum, and clinker.[1] After a period of closure, Puerto La Ceiba officially reopened in June 2016, with more than 150,000 tonnes of cargo ready to ship within the first few days of renewed operation.[2] Contemporaneous reporting indicated that the port had storage capacity for up to 400,000 tonnes of coal[1], while a November 2016 article estimated that the port was exporting as much as 600,000 tonnes of Colombian coal annually.[3]
As of January 2017, an annual average of 120,000 metric tonnes of coal was being shipped from Puerto La Ceiba to other Latin American countries including Brazil, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Peru.[4] An April 2017 news story reported that trucks were carrying coal overland from Colombia to La Ceiba for export[5], following a period of restrictions on Colombian coal.[6]
By 2020, Venezuelan coal exports were being impacted by pressure from sanctions from the U.S. government, despite the continuation of shipments to Europe.[7]
A January 2020 planning report for the Port of La Ceiba noted that coal had historically been the port's most important export commodity, but that business had begun to dwindle in February 2017, and that the port's income had effectively declined to zero.[8] The remainder of the document proposed developing facilities at the port to handle new cargo types such as containerized and refrigerated cargo, with no further mention of coal.[8]
News reports from 2026 made it clear that the Port of La Ceiba's commercial activity had significantly waned, in contrast with its more prosperous past[9], and suggested that the main activities currently needed at the port included recuperation and cleaning of the docks.[10]
As of September 2026 the Port of La Ceiba coal terminal was presumed to be mothballed, given the lack of any documented coal handling at the port for nearly a decade.
Articles and resources
Related GEM.wiki articles
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Gobierno Bolivariano reactivó el Puerto La Ceiba en Trujillo", Ministerio del Poder Popular para el Transporte, June 28, 2016.
- ↑ "Reactivan en Trujillo el Puerto La Ceiba para acelerar el Motor Exportación", Noticias 24, June 28, 2016.
- ↑ "Vuelve de nuevo el fantasma del carbón al Zulia", Sociedad Homo et Natura, November 15, 2016.
- ↑ "Venezuela exporta 17.000 toneladas de carbón mineral a Brasil". Banca y Negocios (in español). 2017-01-20. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
- ↑ "Carbón colombiano vuelve a transitar por Venezuela" (in español). Retrieved 2021-07-21.
- ↑ "Venezuela opens border but refuses Colombian coal" (in español). 2016-09-26. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
- ↑ Luc Cohen. "Venezuelan coal exports rise as U.S. escalates oil sanctions". U.S. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Portuario 2020-2030: Puerto de la Ceiba (pp 4, 7)". Bolipuertos. 2020-01-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Puerto de La Ceiba debe convertirse en polo de desarrollo del estado Trujillo". Diario de Los Andes. 2026-01-19. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "ZULIA | Ejecutan plan para convertir los puertos marítimos de Venezuela en centros logísticos de distribución de mercancía". Somos Noticia Col. 2026-06-03. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
