Container volumes increased by 3.2% in 2016 in Mexican ports according to figures published by the Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transport, which oversees the port system.
Mexican ports throughput last year reached 5.7m teu, up from 5.5m teu although cargo volumes grew less in 2016 than in 2015 when it registered an increase of 7.2%
In Manzanillo, which is Mexico’s largest port, “we will receive during the first quarter of the year two additional super post-panamax cranes, 24 wide and nine high on deck which will be operational in second quarter 2017. In Lazaro Cardenas we have started the construction of the specialised ro-ro terminal that would start operations in the fourth quarter, 2017,” said SSA Mexico head of marketing Iker Allison.
At Lazaro Cardenas where Hutchison Port Holdings operates a container terminal, competition will be fierce when AP Moller Terminals (AMPT) inaugurates its new terminal with its first Maersk vessel on 27 February 2017. AMPT has confirmed they will gradually move their volume during 2017.