 After the European colonization of the area, this was the main export and import region, using boats to transport the cargo from the shore to the ships.A proper port was then built in the needle like peninsular area on which the Puntarenas canton and downtown city is now located, starting with wood materials in the 1910s and then steel in the 1930s.By the 1960s due to the difficulty of access to the city, it was decided to build a proper port with easier access, which started construction in the 1970s and was inaugurated on 17 December 1981.