It’s one of the busiest cruise ports in the Caribbean, and now the popular San Juan Cruise Port is set ofr a major transformation.

Global Ports Holding, the world’s largest independent cruise port operator, has signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority to operate the port, following a competitive procurement process. 

The port handled 1.8 million unique passengers in 2019; it will become the third-largest port in the company’s global network. 

Under the terms, GPH is paying a $75 million concession fee to the Puerto Rico Ports Authority; it will then spend $100 million on “critical” infrastructure repairs at Piers 1 and 4 and the Panamerican Pier. 

GPH’s second investment phase will include $250 million in expanding the capacity of the cruise port. 

That will include a completely new cruise port and a state-of-the-art homeport terminal. 

“I am delighted that the Government of Puerto Rico has selected GPH for this public-private partnership to improve and expand San Juan Cruise Port,” said Mehmet Kutman, CEO of Global Ports Holding. “The addition of this fantastic location to our cruise port network marks a further important step in our growth strategy and will grow cruise passenger volumes across our network to over 16 million passengers per annum. Our work to transform this port will see hundreds of millions of US dollars invested into San Juan Cruise Port, all financed by private capital. Our plans include building a new cruise pier, a state-of-the-art cruise terminal, and significant enhancements to the public infrastructure.”