Boca Chica

Thanks to its proximity to the city of Santo Domingo, its crystal clear waters and its white sand, Boca Chica became the busiest beach in the country. In the bay there are two small islets: Los Pinos, which was made with sand from the dredging of Puerto de Andrés in the fifties, and La Matica, which is a key with mangroves and habitat of several species of birds, where the British Albert Rogers had set up a small private zoo visited by various personalities of the time, including Walt Disney.

 

The current Port of Boca Chica was built in 1954-1955 by the Puerto Rican engineer Félix Benítez Rexach in order to ship sugar from the Boca Chica sugar mill, installed in the town of Andrés.

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This port is public property managed by the Dominican Port Authority (APD). At the beginning there was only one berth for the shipment of sugar that was transported in rail cars from the mill to the ships stored there. It currently serves commercial export and import vessel operations, containerized cargo, paper by-products, and general cargo.

 

Although it is outside the immediate area of Boca Chica, at the end of Cabo de Caucedo (at its southeastern tip) is the liquefied natural gas (LNG) reception terminal. It is an open ocean terminal, with an LNG storage tank which at the time of construction was one of the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The LNG is used in the power plant adjacent to the terminal, and is distributed through an underground pipeline to the Los Mina power plant in Santo Domingo. This dock is managed by the APD, although it was made 100% with private capital.

 

Operation. Export and import: Containerized cargo, General cargo, Liquids, Paper by-products, Fuel, Tourist ships.

 

Description. Originally, a sugar port in the small Bahía de Andrés. Now it is mainly used for small container ships.