Although the Dominican Republic has 16 portsdistributed in three regions of the territory: north, south and east, the maritime cargo that enters and leaves the country depends mainly on two terminals: those of Haina and Caucedo.
These two infrastructures concentrated 67.6% of the total cargo moved by the country in 2025, which amounted to 38.3 million metric tons, adding between them ports 25.9 million, according to figures from the Dominican Port Authority (Apordom).
The statistics reflect that last year, through the two Haina docks, under operation of the company HIT Puerto Río Haina14.1 million metric tons of cargo transited, a figure that in the case of the Caucedo terminal, managed by DP World Dominicanamounted to 11.8 million tons.
But the technological advances have allowed the mobilization of that volume of cargo to be more efficient and productive. HIT Río Haina affirms that the actions of digitization in their operations “have greatly improved the fluidity, visibility, precision and security in their logistics processes, without the need for full automation“.
The company clarifies that, in markets such as the Dominican one, due to load variability, scale and need for flexibility, “the full automation is not the natural destiny in the short or medium term”, specifying that his approach has been selective automation and digital tools that improve productivity without requiring high fixed cost schemes.
He highlights that the improvements achieved from the implementation of digital tools have resulted in “more productivitybetter use of equipment and space and a greater security“.
He cites as an example the ship planning and the yard (part of the terminal where the containers are placed), explaining that previously there was a more manual and reactive coordination, with static reports, while currently there is control and adjustments in real time via the Terminal Operating System (TOS), which include optimized sequences.
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It also highlights among its digitalization initiatives the cameras for reading containers and plates, electronic validations to speed up entries and exits; telemetry and operational control in equipment (sensors, performance monitoring, geolocation) for better maintenance and use of assets and security supported by technology: video surveillance, biometric control, proximity cards and analytics for early warnings, among others.
Last year, almost a third of the ships that docked in the port arrived at the two docks managed by HIT. ports Dominicans. In 2025, that terminal will receive 1,779 shipsa figure that represented 29.3% of the total for the period, which amounted to 6,068 vessels.
The number of ships that this terminal received implies an increase of 85 units, equivalent to 5% more, in relation to the 1,694 ships that docked at both docks in 2021, according to records Apordom. In that period at ports Dominicans 4,837 boats arrived.
More technical jobs
The Dominican Republic ended 2023 with a score of 0.7 in an index to evaluate the level of ICT infrastructure (information and communications technologies) for the use, adoption and adaptation of frontier technologies, prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
The port operator of Haina rules out that the automation actions affect employment, ensuring that these have been a complement to the human work and that contribute to increasing the highest value functions, such as analytics, digital control, specialized maintenance and operational planning.
When talking about the future of the port sector, HIT Río Haina projects more technical and specialized jobs, greater digital processesanalytical support and timely automation, more efficient and electrical equipment. He advances that the artificial intelligence will be a key player in the promotion, development and implementation of these strategies.
“Our technological approach seeks to improve the human worknot replace it. Repetitive tasks are reduced, but efficiency, standardization and security are gained. We see a more technological and digital future, but not without people,” he declares.
Deepen the digitization
The company says that it has among its plans the deepening of its processes of digitizationwith actions that include: intelligent yard optimization and dynamic equipment allocation, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence applied to planning and predictive maintenance to anticipate operational peaks and reduce failures, among others.
“All this responds to a logic of incremental efficiency, cost-effective and in line with the volume of our operation,” he adds.
He another operator The port company cited in this story was consulted about its automation processes, but as of press time it had not responded.
