The first half of this year will be marked in the statistical record as the period in which Mexican ports achieved the highest container movement for the first part of the year.
The port authority published in its monthly report that at the end of June of this year the ports had handled four million 525 thousand 800 20-foot containers (TEU) , a measure used in world maritime statistics, this is 15.6% higher than the record of the same period of 2023.
Only in the first half of 2022 had the four million TEU barrier been surpassed for the same reference period.
Most of the TEUs operated in the first half of 2024 belonged to deep-sea movements (import and export) , with four million 493 thousand 630 TEUs, which had an increase at an annual rate of 9.7 percent. While the rest, 32,170 TEU, were obtained in cabotage services (maritime transport between the same coasts of the country) , 433% more than its equivalent period last year.
The ports of Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas, on the Pacific side, have been responsible for feeding this record with one million 935 thousand 710 TEU (+11.6%) and one million 111 thousand 075 TEU (+33.2%), respectively, according to with the report of the General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine (CGPMM) .
In the Gulf of Mexico area, Veracruz has contributed 655,228 TEU or 18% more, and Altamira added 441,310 TEU or 6.1% more.
Port activity in the handling of containers in Mexico has been driven by greater commercial exchange with countries in the Asian region , mainly with China, an effect that analysts have related to the industrial trend of nearshoring (relocation of production lines ).
Meanwhile, the main container handling terminals in the country, such as in Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas, are in a process of investment and expansion of their operational areas , to support not only this increase that has taken place in the first half of 2024, but for the positive perspectives for the years to come.
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