Port of Lázaro Cárdenas

The Port of Lázaro Cárdenas is the largest Mexican seaport and one of the largest seaports in the Pacific Ocean basin, with an annual traffic capacity of around 25 million tonnes of cargo and 2,200,000 TEU's.

Background
Private terminals in the Puerto de Lázaro Cárdenas handle minerals, fluids, coal, and fertilizers.

Description
Lázaro Cárdenas is home to a deep-water seaport that handles container, dry bulk, and liquid cargo. The port handled 160,000 TEU's unit in 2005 but is expanding to a capacity of 2.2 million TEU annually. Cargo moves to and from the port by road and rail equally, with rail service provided exclusively by Kansas City Southern Railway. The port is expected to become a major container facility due to congestion at the U.S. ports of Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach and its relative proximity to major cities such as Chicago, Kansas City, Missouri, and Houston. In preparation for the port's increased capacity, railway and highway infrastructure running north-south through the center of Mexico has been upgraded in recent years to handle the anticipated increase in volume of goods bound for the United States using this transportation corridor. If a proposed government-backed Pacific port is built at Punta Colonet, Baja California, goods flowing to US states like Arizona and Nevada could bypass the congested Los Angeles region with closer access those markets, providing increased competition with Lázaro Cárdenas.

Statistics
In 2008, the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas handled 20,860,647 tonnes of cargo and 524,791 (TEU), making the busiest port in Mexico and one of the largest container ports in the country.


 * * figures in tonnes

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