APM Terminals has identified Mexico as a key location in part of its ‘Global Terminal Network’ which focuses on strategic growth and infrastructure investment planning.
Mexico has the second-largest economy in Latin America and the third-largest container throughput in the region.
Container traffic at Mexican ports, which is dominated by Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, increased from 4.21 million TEU in 2011 to 4.87 million TEU in 2013.
This increase reflected a growth rate of 15% – more than double the overall Latin American container volume growth of 6.7% during the same period.
In addition, Mexico’s largest port for containers, Manzanillo, handled 2.1 million TEU in 2013, followed by Lázaro Cárdenas with 1.05 million TEU.
APM Terminals signed a 32-year concession for the design, construction and operation of a US$900 million deep-water terminal at the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas in 2012.
The first phase of the construction of ‘Terminal 2’ will include 750m of quay, five ship-to-shore cranes, 22 automatic stacking cranes and two railway cranes.
Once completed, it will be capable of accommodating very large container vessels.
A key component of the project will be an intermodal transport corridor linking the Lazaro Cardenas marine terminal with APM Terminals own intermodal facility in Mexico City – which will serve the city’s commercial, industrial and population centre.
The completed terminal, which will add 1.2 million TEU of annual throughput capacity, is anticipated to be operational by early 2016.