Posted on January 6, 2026
Container facilities at Venezuela’s busiest port were left in a state of serious disrepair by the Maduro regime, a U.S. maritime executive says, as a management group looks to reclaim its investment in terminal operations there.
“The ports are key to rebuilding Venezuela,” Louis Sola, former Federal Maritime Commission chairman told FreightWaves. “Those plans will all come through the ports.”
Sola, a veteran who worked in military intelligence in the region, said that Maersk continues to call the port using the same equipment from the prior terminal administration. Other facilities “are a disaster. Cargo operations that normally take 4-5 hours now take 4-5 days, and that was before the U.S. took out [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro. Everything else is literally in shambles and needs rebuilding.”
Military forces from the United States on Saturday extracted Maduro and transported him to New York to stand trial on federal charges. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is leading the interim government.
