At present, Nicaragua has seaports located in coastal points duly outlined along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and a network of small port facilities in the large lake of Nicaragua or Cocibolca.  In earlier times, at the beginning of the colonial period, Nicaragua served as a transit route of what was then the kingdom of Peru and the bay from El Realejo (today Port of Corinto) was a point of reference for American shores.

These conditions remained unchanged until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the then president of the republic Tomas Martinez issued a decree which established the port city in the bay of El Realejo.

During that same century, port activity showed a remarkable development, in large part thanks to the introduction of the “Compañía Accesoria del Transito”, the growing stream of steamboats, carriages and traffic in general was notorious, all of this motivated by the growing need to find more convenient routes for the exchange of products and goods or  merely to satisfy the yearning of adventurers in search of new destinations to learn or conquer. Preferred geographic locations for these purposes were the so-called ports of San Juan del Sur, San Jorge, La Virgen and Río San Juan.  Anecdotes about the beauty of their flora and fauna are told by various sources, probably most renowned is the case of the American writer and novelist Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain).

In the early twentieth century, significant changes in the political and social environment of Nicaragua took place.  The liberal José Santos Zelaya, then president of the republic of Nicaragua, campaigned for the political unification of the Pacific and the Caribbean Coast, through the execution of large investments in public infrastructure, with the intention to communicate the entire country through the opening of roads, connections over water and communication via telegraph.  The facilities located in Bluefields / El Bluff that were under the control of the English crown, became Nicaraguan property to join the nascent port network of the country.

During the second half of the twentieth century, thanks to the initiative to build strategic roads promoted by the North Americans throughout Latin America, the business of transporting goods and people on the river Escondido formally started, facilitating trade between the communities of the region.  At the same time, El Rama, a small Caribbean town, was connected with the Pacific by road, achieving greater social and commercial integration between the two regions. 

The small port facilities located on the shores of the great lake of Nicaragua: Granada, San Carlos, San Jorge, Altagracia and Moyogalpa were administered by their respective local governments, except for the port city of San Miguelito which belonged to the Nicaraguan Railway Company.

The national ports company, ENAP, is created when the government council of national reconstruction assumes office at the beginning of the eighties, by decree number 405 of May 17, 1980, given the need to create agencies that contribute to a reorganization of public services pursuing optimization and more efficiency, supporting the progress and purposes that were outlined in the economic and social areas. This led to the introduction of the first governing body, as such, of the port facilities in the country entrusted to its authority and with full adherence to the laws and regulations of the state of Nicaragua, with a general manager, senior executive officer of the company, and a sub-director, reporting to the CEO, a board made up of the minister of transport (council president), the finance minister and the minister of foreign trade among others. Subsequently the decree number 641 was issued on February 19 1981, which nullifies the existence of the board of directors and empowers the minister of transport to formulate strategies and decisions under which the company is to be governed.  In 1983 by Decree 1343 issued on November 7, ENAP is attached to the “Transportation corporation of the people” (COTRAP) and is subordinate to the Ministry of transport, (MITRANS), this situation remained stable until 1990, when the transition to a national government happened. 

With a new administration governing the state of Nicaragua and due to the urgent need to modernize the existing port infrastructure, the authorities create the national port company, EPN by decree number 35-95 of June 27 1995 and its subsequent reform of February 11, 1999.   Its goals are to work towards the improvement and modernization of port infrastructure, under the  jurisdiction of the EPN, represented throughout the national territory, in order to provide efficient, effective, safe and competitive services that integrate Nicaragua in the growing and rapidly changing field of international trade . The EPN was tohave an executive president as its principal public officer, a board composed of eight members appointed by the president of the republic. The EPN in turn will be subject to the provisions and guidelines of the Presidency of the republic as far as port matters are concerned.

It was in 1997 that the activities to improve the port infrastructure started.  Maintenance work on the physical structure of the port facilities is carried out, as well as dredging to allow cargo ships bound for Nicaragua and other countries in the region to navigate safely in waters within the perimeter of the port facilities. Purchase of equipment and modern machinery has also been a priority of vital importance to receive and provide services to international cargo ships arriving in the country's ports. Activities for the re-conditioning of the cargo storage areas have also been carried out, which will allow storage of a larger quantity of containers, automotive and other goods, whose number will see an increase with the opening of commercial borders between nations.