Port of La Guaira: From Public to Private Management

Abstract

Any analysis of the development of Venezuela’s foreign trade, including in this particular case of the port of La Guaira, offers a wide range of potential issues worthy of attention. Clearly, we need to trace the role of the port back to the time of the collapse of the colonial regime and acknowledge the way in which the removal of legal restrictions led to a first dramatic increase in trade. Subsequently, when maritime transport began to use vessels of greater tonnage, there was clearly an urgent need for innovation and investments to improve the port facilities in order to accommodate these larger vessels. La Guaira was of particular importance for the increasing commercial activity because it was the port which served the commercial centre of Caracas, the capital of the Republic, its largest city and, at the same time, focal point for the economic activity of a hinterland embracing the valleys of Aragua, the valleys of Tuy, Guarenas and Guatire. Given the crucial role played by the port in Venezuela’s commercial life, there was a natural interest in introducing improvements in its infrastructure capable of facilitating the flow of goods, reducing delays and lowering the costs of distribution. Despite this interest, budget restrictions limited the necessary transformations during the nineteenth century until, in 1885, the government decided to grant a concession for the management of the port to an English company.