Financial Processes of Maritime Transport in Colombia

Abstract

Throughout history, seaports have been synonymous with progress. Apart from injecting dynamism into the economies of coastal cities, they have gone from being distribution and storage centers to becoming indispensable instruments of countries' foreign trade (García, 2017). Cartagena on the other hand, since its discovery in 1502 by Pedro De Heredia became the strategic port for the continent. Trade from this side of the hemisphere flowed throug h this area of the Caribbean. Caravans of galleons sailed our seas back then and centuries later the port is filled with container ships. Cartagena is always the protagonist with its port. After 518 years of its foundation, Cartagena not only remains strategic, but its port is the "Best in the Caribbean" and the only one in Colombi a that appears in the ranking of the 100 best ports in the world (Figueroa, 2008). The port area of Cartagena today is characterized by being the largest in the country by having 54 docks, within which 18 carry out foreign trade activities thus mobilizing more than 3000 ships a year for a total of 40 million tons per year (Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Cartagena S.A., 2020).