
The largest marina in the Caribbean, Puerto del Rey, provides its clients with power during uncertain times.
Following a ninety day period without full power due to the hurricanes of September, Marina Puerto Del Rey said they were delighted to have the whole marina with its nearly 1,000 wet-slips, 750 dry-stack spaces and 15 acres of land storage, fully electrified by Christmas Day. The undertaking was the result of careful planning and implementation with RIMCO, PREPA and the Port of Jacksonville.
Although always a key component of Marina Puerto Del Rey’s vision of pairing super-high capacity generators with their $10 million investment in solar power, Hurricanes Irma and Maria accelerated their plans; plans that saw the installation of a powerful Cat generator.
Nicholas Prouty, CEO of Putnam Bridge, the company that purchased Marina Puerto Del Rey out of bankruptcy in 2013, said, “I am very proud to offer double redundancy. We are now living in a world of rapidly changing weather patterns and unfortunately these weather events will continue to happen. What can change however is how we plan for them in the future. Never again will an asset as important to nautical tourism and the economic recovery of Puerto Rico be sidelined. Puerto Rico will prove its resiliency and as members of the private sector, we fully support that ideal.”
The new 1,500Kw generator will make Puerto Del Rey the only marina offering its clients a stable power source.
“In the event of blackouts Puerto Del Rey’s clients have peace of mind that their vessels are safe,” Prouty said.
He added, “This purchase is another example of our continued investment in Puerto Rico and my continued belief in the people of this island.”
Infrastructure investments over the past three years have made Puerto Del Rey well prepared when it comes to facing hurricanes. As a result, less than 3% of the boats had major damage after the catastrophic Category 4 hurricane. “This is something we are very proud of,” marina management said.