Mexican ports cargo volume grew by 12.2% last year

Mexican ports handled 6,375,338 teu in 2017, up from 5,680,483 teu the year before, Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) announced this week.

Terminals on the Pacific coast moved in 2017, 4,324,051 teu compared to 3,936, 638 TEUs the previous year, representing an increase of 9.8%, according to official statistics of cargo, ships and passengers vessels.

Manzanillo leads the National Port System with 2,830,370 teu, a growth of 9.8% compared to 2,578,822 teu in 2016. Also on the Pacific coast, Lázaro Cárdenas saw a 3% increase with a total of 1,149,079 teu, compared to 1,115,452 teu the year before. Ensenada, the third most important port in the Pacific, moved 230,185 teu, 20% more than the 191,708 teu in the previous year;

The report prepared by the General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine of the SCT, showed that in 2017 the ports of the Gulf of Mexico moved, for the first time, 2,051,287 teu, an increase of 17.6% compared to the 1,743,845 teu in 2016.

Veracruz also grew by 15.7% to 1,117,304 teu in comparison with 965,294 teu the previous year, while Altamira registered cargo volume increase of 17.3% to 803,222 teu, in comparison with 684,931 teu of the year 2016. Other terminals-Progreso, Coatzacoalcos, Tuxpan, Puerto Morelos and Tampico- registered less than 100,000 teu each.

“Mexico is doing well because of the automotive industry with new plants that have consolidated production volumes,” says SSA Mexico Commercial Director Iker Allison.

SSA Mexico operates several terminals in Manzanillo, Vera Cruz, Acapulco, Progreso, Cozumel, Lazaro Cardenas and Tuxpan. “And [growth of volume] will continue since new plants will come on lines with BMW in 2019 in San Luis de Potosi. Volume will continue increasing during 2018 probably at the same pace,” added Allison.

“SSA-Manzanillo is upgrading capacity to 2.1m teu from 1.8m teu as we have received two additional STS cranes and six additional RTGs. We expect cargo volume to increase this year since shipping lines are re-configuring services right now. It is hard to put figures, but it is positive,” Allison said.

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