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Sailing towards growth Through a significant investment in its port system, Mexico sails firmly to increase its trade with the world, consolidating its position as a logistics platform in America and creating better prospects for economic growth and development.
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Special REPORT Mexican PORTS
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orts play a vital role in meeting the needs of the production sector in Mexico and in responding to consumer demand in national and international markets, through national and international trade. Moreover, the operation of Mexican ports and the transportation of goods through them, either for internal use or on their way to other markets like the US and Central America, is the ground for development of other economic activities. Thus, distribution of goods to different markets is an important source of income and jobs in sectors such as road transport and logistics infrastructure. The Mexican port system is dynamic and is going through a growth spurt that makes its future prospects very favorable. In that sense, ports are one of the key sectors of the strategy of openness and diversification in foreign trade
adopted by Mexico. Today the country’s port system has corporations and workers operating under the highest international standards and with productivity levels on a par to those seen in major ports worldwide.
Unprecedented Investment Between 2007 and 2010 there was an investment of more than 2.5 billion usd in Mexican seaports. Fifty three percent of the total investment, (1.34 billion usd) came from public funds, while private investment accounted for 47% (nearly 1.2 billion usd). About 16% of resources invested went to constructions designed to connect the seaports with the country’s road network and rail system. The planned investment for modernization and construction of port infrastructure in 2011 is close to 690 million usd; public investment will be just over 532 million usd, while private investment will exceed 155 million usd.
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New Avenues for Growth In the last five years, the Mexican government has promoted the construction of specialized terminals and industrial plants in several of the country’s ports, thus encouraging production and domestic and international trade of products such as sheet steel, fertilizer, copper, fluids and the handling of containers. On the other hand, access to facilities for the mooring of last generation ships has increased and substantially improved in an effort to interconnect sea transport with other means of transportation. For example, in 2011, the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, docked the largest capacity container ship to ever set sail in a Latin American port. Identified as one of the main logistics platforms for transit of goods in the Asia-Pacific, the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas also docked the Carsten Maersk, the largest capacity ship to ever arrive at a port in Latin America, since it carries more than 9,500 TEUs and is 347 meters long, 15 meters deep and 43 meters wide. For its part, Puerto Chiapas was the first port to export titanium to Asia. The shipping line responsible for carrying the first shipment of 500,000 tons of ore was Germany’s Hapag Lloyd, which in July 2011 operated the containerized shipping to the port of Xingang, China. This shipment is the first of its kind in the history of this Chiapas port, which will trigger operations of bulk minerals for export in the future. A similar story is recorded in the Port of Topolobampo, Sinaloa, which, with an investment of more than 27 million usd, opened a maneuvering and loading dock to host the Iron Vassilis -the largest vessel to arrive at that port, with a cargo of 55,000 tons of iron ore at a rate of 36,000 tons of cargo per day, to be delivered to China. In El Cuyo, Yucatán, a dredging of the navigation access channel was carried out. As a result, there is now a more adequate depth and navigation of about 410 fishing boats has since become efficient and safe. That has allowed the revival and development of fisheries in the area and has benefitted more than 800
families who depend on that economic activity, besides helping the navigation of tourism and recreational vessels. In addition, the construction has contributed to the program for the regeneration of eroded beaches, since the dredged material was used to restore beaches affected by the coastline current. Works are currently underway in different ports. For example, in the Port of Topolobampo, dredging works were carried out in the main navigation channel. With an investment of 17.6 million usd, the channel will increase its depth by one meter, to reach 14.5 meters, allowing the safe navigation of vessels of up to 70,000 tons of cargo. Through the Ministry of Communications and Transportation, Mexico’s government will invest a total of 3.36 million usd in the construction of the second multipurpose pier at the Multipurpose Terminal of Port of Dos Bocas, Tabasco. It is estimated that the construction will be completed in December 2011. With it, the port of Dos Bocas will reach 550 meters of quay length and increase the current port’s activities and cargo handling. Similarly, in Puerto Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, the access entrance is being enlarged. Since the construction of the dock and yard of the container terminal in 1981, there had been no major infrastructure works in this port. Today, with a public investment of more than 30 million usd, 165 meters of breakwater will be built at an early stage, after which the access channel to the port’s main pier will be extended 40 meters, and will reach a width of 120 meters. That construction work will generate 800 direct jobs and 1,500 indirect jobs. Once completed, the Puerto Salina Cruz will be equipped to host larger vessels, the security levels in the entry and exit maneuvres will increase and night departures will be made possible, all of which will bring savings in time and cost to shipping lines. Thus, Mexico is following the right navigation path to assert its position as the logistics platform of America and as a major player in the international trade scene. n
Special REPORT Mexican PORTS
Between 2007 and 2010 there was an investment of more than 2.5 billion usd in Mexican seaports. Fifty three percent of the total investment (1.34 billion usd) came from public funds, while private investment accounted for 47% (nearly 1.2 billion usd). About 16% of resources invested went to constructions designed to connect the seaports with the country’s road network and rail system.