In the January-August 2025 cycle, the National Port System registered a total of six million 297 thousand 881 containers (TEU, a measure equivalent to 20-foot containers) , this represented an increase of 1.4% compared to the same period in 2024, according to figures from the Ministry of the Navy (Semar) .
In an analysis by T21 Business Intelligence , reviewing the monthly performance of ports on the Mexican coasts, it was identified that 850,841 TEUs were operated last August , which meant the best record of 2025, surpassing that of last July, where 804,943 TEUs had been operated.
According to Semar data, Manzanillo , the main port for handling containers, registered its best figure of the year in the eighth month of 2025 with 346,249 TEUs , surpassing that of March 2025, when 337,670 containers were reported.
The volume handled by the Port of Manzanillo last August represented a 2.9% increase compared to the same cycle in 2024.
In the case of the port of Lázaro Cárdenas , in the eighth month of the year it achieved a total of 235,656 TEUs , reaching its second best record of 2025, only behind last June, when 242,012 containers were operated.
Lázaro Cárdenas’ August performance was 0.5% below the same period in 2024 .
In the case of the Gulf of Mexico coast, the ports of Veracruz and Altamira dominate the share, handling 112,232 and 78,634 TEUs, respectively .
The records obtained by these ports represented a performance of -1.6% and 6.2%, respectively, compared to August 2024.
In the eighth month of the year, the container volume handled by Manzanillo represented 40% of the national total, followed by Lázaro Cárdenas with 27.7%, Veracruz with 13.2%, Altamira with 9.2%, and Ensenada with 4.6%.
Based on timely data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) on the trade balance, in August 2025 Mexico’s foreign trade reached a total of 113.38 billion dollars (mdd) , which corresponded to 55.718 billion dollars in exports and 57.662 billion dollars in imports.
Compared to the same month last year, total trade grew by 3.4%, exports by 7.4%, and imports by -0.1%.
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