The downward trend was confirmed and the handling times of the main ports in Mexico for motor transport in December had the best record of 2024.
That is, the Average Time Indicator for Motor Transport in Ports (ITPAP) , prepared by T21 Business Intelligence , showed in the twelfth month of last year an average time of 3 hours, one minute and 50 seconds, which meant a decrease of 9.3% compared to the record of a month before.
This last record is considerable if we take as a reference that the ITPAP reached its maximum in July of the same year , when an average time of 29 hours and 45 minutes was recorded between the analysis ports; from there everything has been downhill.
The indicator, unique in the country, is based on the handling times for import cargo in the ports of Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas, on the Pacific side, and Altamira and Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, or for some improvisers, “Gulf of America.”
These four maritime points handled 66.1% of the total import cargo volume registered by all ports in the country in 2024, which was 130 million 549 thousand 236 tons , according to statistics from the General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine (CGPMM) , an office of the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) .
But if we take as a reference the number of import containers operated, measured in 20-foot containers (TEU), the same four ports handled 90.4% of the total nationwide that was handled last year or three million 859 thousand 965 TEU.
The ITPAP gathers monthly information provided by trucking companies and vehicle tracking companies via GPS; it focuses on the average time spent by tractor-trailers, broken down into three critical categories in the merchandise collection process: maneuvering, waiting, and time in customs.
For December 2024, the indicator took as reference the data of 2,819 motor transport movements in the ports analyzed.
The 3 hours, one minute and 50 seconds that ITPAP averaged in the last month of last year were divided into 29.53% waiting (53 minutes and 42 seconds), 21.25% maneuvering (38 minutes and 39 seconds) and 49.20% customs time (one hour, 29 minutes and 30 seconds) .
The ports observed by ITPAP have taken center stage in the delays experienced by import cargo to reach its destination -read a production line or a consumption center-, evidencing the inefficiencies that still prevail in the Mexican port system , such as lack of capacity in the infrastructure, high administrative or inspection burden on merchandise and even failures in technological systems, especially customs systems.
In an interview given by the head of the CGPMM, captain Manuel Fernando Gutiérrez Gallardo, which was published in the January 2025 edition of T21 magazine , he refers to the fact that under the new federal administration there will be open doors and willingness to dialogue with the private sector to address the demands or needs that arise to improve operations in the country’s ports. Only time will tell whether he is right or wrong.
In the December 2024 exercise, the port of Manzanillo was the one that showed the shortest time in serving motor transport , with 2.1 decimal hours, followed by Veracruz with 2.7 hours, Altamira with 3.6 hours and finally Lázaro Cárdenas with 4.0 decimal hours.
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