Port managers across the Caribbean should have learned an important lesson in the last days of March 2023 with the collapse of the foundation at the north side of the San Diego Terminal at Sans Souci Port in Santo Domingo.Port managers across the Caribbean should have learned an important lesson in the last days of March 2023 with the collapse of the foundation at the north side of the San Diego Terminal at Sans Souci Port in Santo Domingo.On Tuesday, 28 March, 2023 at around 9:45 a.m., the ground buckled under the weight of a cargo of steel deposited near Pier 6 rendering it inoperable.

The section that collapsed is east of the Av. Francisco Caamaño Deñó (Avenida del Puerto), near the Ozama Rivera. Operations continued uninterrupted at the San Souci Terminal’s two piers and at Santo Domingo Terminal’s five piers.Sources confirmed that steel cargo, some lots weighing up to 2,500 kilos, were offloaded close to the building at Pier 6 that houses the terminal offices. The resulting sinkhole affected operations at the cruise ship port and the Ministry of Public Works was coordinating the removal of the cargo.The lesson: ports designed specifically to accommodate “human cargo” are not likely to withstand the weight of industrial cargo.Élido Alcántara, Deputy Minister of Equipment and Transport of the Ministry of Public Works, told Dominican Today that no injuries were reported, and that, for the moment, there was no imminent danger. Commenting on a huge crack in the ground near to the sinkhole, he said efforts were being made to remove a part of the steel cargo in order to prevent further collapse of the ground in the San Diego terminal area.