ENSENADA, BC.- The multi-use terminal in Ensenada, part of the Hutchison Ports group , reaffirmed on Thursday its position as a competitive option in the container market on the northwest coast of the Mexican Pacific.

Its directors and port authorities gave the green light to the expansion of the terminal , an infrastructure project that began in February 2023, and where 2.3 billion pesos were invested, without affecting the loading and unloading of containers.

“We have been growing and we have had the opportunity to have a very interesting port activity,” said Jorge Magno Lecona, head of the Latin American and Caribbean Division of Hutchison Ports, during the inauguration ceremony.

Between empty and full containers, this terminal handled 462,176 20-foot containers (TEU) in 2023 and the outlook for the next five years is that the demand for port services will increase at a constant rate, motivated by the arrival of a greater number of foreign companies attracted by the wave of nearshoring (relocation of production lines) in Mexico.

As of September of this year, the port of Ensenada had accumulated a total of 322,252 TEUs , just 7.9% less than in the same period in 2023, according to official data.

The works at the terminal included the extension of an additional 300 meters on the dock, an increase in the container yard, technological improvements, the acquisition of a new Super Post Panamax electric gantry crane (already in operation) , as well as two RTG electric cranes focused on the sustainability objectives of the Hutchison Ports group.

“It was a company that delivered on time and in the correct manner, and it is very clear to me that it is a good thing for everything that has to do with jobs, both direct and indirect, not only in Ensenada, in the state, in Mexico and internationally,” said Admiral Luis Javier Robinson Portillo Villanueva, general director of the National Port System Administration (Asipona) Ensenada .

The Hutchison Ports TUM in Ensenada primarily serves the maritime activities of companies based in cities in the northwest of Mexico such as Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate, San Luis Río Colorado, Hermosillo, Nogales and even Ciudad Juárez , which in some cases are connected to the industrial market in southern California or Texas. For this reason, its main competitors are the twin ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

One of the advantages is that shipping lines have established direct services to Ensenada, which becomes the first port of call for ships coming from Asia , which then go down to other ports in the Mexican Pacific and in other Latin American countries on this same coast.

Hutchison Ports in Mexico also operates other terminals in the country’s main ports such as Manzanillo, Lázaro Cárdenas and Veracruz .

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