TIJUANA, BC.- The National Port System Administration (Asipona) in Ensenada said that as part of the port’s modernization and expansion, the development of a new rail line will allow this infrastructure to boost cargo movement.
Admiral Luis Javier Robinson Portillo Villanueva, general director of Asipona Ensenada, stated that the 98.7-kilometer (km) Tecate-El Sauzal railroad needs to be developed for general cargo transportation and tourism services.
“It represents a strategic transportation route for improved economic development in a shorter timeframe. Considering the different modes of transportation—sea, air, land, and rail—to move goods, it will optimize costs, time, and efficiency,” he said.
During the panel Modernization of the Port of Ensenada, the Railroad and Beyond that took place in the first edition of the Transportation and Logistics Meeting (ETYL) CALI-BAJA 2025 , he reiterated that it is necessary to consolidate this new infrastructure in the future because it would be the best option to transport cargo, since land transport will be insufficient.
“Once El Sauzal exists, it’s important to have a consolidated multimodal transportation system to improve communication and freight transportation; it’s the best logistical solution,” he said.
Roberto Romandia, CEO of Baja Railway, agreed that a port cannot fully develop without the support of a railway. “We are an extremely important part of the logistics chain, economically, safely, and affordably. Once we integrate maritime, customs, rail, and wheeled transport, we will be integrating everything necessary into the supply chain to be more efficient, productive, and safer for all future projects.”
He specified that the train currently runs from San Isidro to Tecate with 71.4 km of track, but once this Asipona project is integrated, there will be nearly 200 km of rail track.
For his part, Javier Rodríguez, general manager of Ensenada International Terminal , mentioned that the group’s vision was to invest heavily in Ensenada, “because it is a very kind port.”
He explained that they recently made an investment of more than 150 million dollars , resources that allowed them to carry out the extension of the yard and acquisition of port equipment that allowed them to increase their static capacity by more than 50% and a dynamic capacity of 800 thousand TEU (20-foot containers), and the length of the dock from 300 to 600 meters.
“We’ve diverted cargo from Los Angeles and Long Beach, but they move 19 million TEUs a year, and we’ll have a field day if we reach 500,000. So, yes, we’ve diverted cargo, but I think we can divert a lot more and they won’t even realize it, and maybe they’ll even be grateful, because they go there and they’re always very saturated,” he said.
Mateo Cepeda Jaramillo, Sales and Logistics Manager for Cosco Shipping Lines , noted that the shipping company has accumulated nearly 600,000 TEUs of cargo at the port of Ensenada since its arrival at this facility; and in 2018, they launched their first exclusive service.
“Cosco saw the region’s capabilities and vision, made a significant investment, and thank God we’ve become the leading shipping company in the port right now,” he said.
Portillo Villanueva also commented that the modernization includes the expansion of the basin from 450 meters in diameter with a depth of 14.5 meters to 550 meters in diameter and also an expansion of the approach and secondary channels that require 700 million pesos, in addition to a multipurpose facility, the construction of a tourist marina that will be 150 million pesos, a cruise terminal with two billion pesos, among other projects that total 4.29 billion pesos.
He indicated that the investment for El Sauzal is 4.985 billion pesos to construct the 4 km of breakwater and also a social project.
Meanwhile, private investment will include the specialized container terminal, a multipurpose terminal for general cargo, bulk cargo, and fluids and petroleum products, which will require an investment of 22 billion pesos.
“By 2040, with all the planned development, we will have 1.5 million TEUs. To address the issue of moving containerized cargo, we are planning to expand the bypass by 24 km and also connect it to all highways in the region along the Ensenada-Tijuana stretch,” he explained.
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