Gustavo Castillo García
Sent
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, November 20, 2024, p. 13
Manzanillo, Col., The Administration of the National Port System (Asipona) of Manzanillo will become one of the flagship works of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who will promote international maritime trade with the expansion of this customs office in the next two years of 450 hectares to 1,816, which will require a public-private investment of more than 63 billion pesos to position it in first place in Latin America and 15th in the ranking worldwide by moving 10 million containers annually.
During 2024, the port of Manzanillo operates a monthly average of 325 thousand TEU’s (measurement used in foreign trade equivalent to the loading capacity of a standard container, 33 cubic meters) and if the average continues, it will be approximately 3.9 million this year. reported Admiral Mario Alberto Gasque Peña, director of this port administration.
During a tour of Asipona, he announced that work is already underway on the project called Nuevo Manzanillo Cuyutlán, in which the government will invest 15 thousand 56 million pesos for dredging and complementary navigation works, as well as in the development of terminals. specialized, land connectivity (roads and new accesses) and adaptation of reserve areas for the port.
Meanwhile, private investment will be 48,557 million pesos, and will focus on the construction of container terminals.
These investments will jointly increase the operational capacity of the ports currently identified as Manzanillo San Pedrito and Nuevo Manzanillo Cuyutlán, which will form a single port terminal, which will strengthening its global competitiveness and, with the adaptation, it will generate approximately 11,132 direct jobs and 28,626 indirect jobs during construction and operation, in addition to promoting the economic-social development of the region.
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Admiral Gasque Peña highlighted that the works have already begun and in the next two years the first operations will be carried out; Dredging works are currently being carried out to serve larger draft vessels.
▲ The San Pedrito and Cuyutlán ports will be unified while their infrastructure will increase from 450 to 1,816 hectares.Photo Germán Canseco
He stated that In recent years the trend of boat arrivals has changed, as larger vessels arrive. For example, in 2019, 65 ships of more than 360 meters in length were received, but in 2023 262 arrived
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Last August, he added, the record for the entry of motor transport vehicles in one month was broken, with 109,618.
In this context, Julieta Juárez Ochoa, marketing manager of Asipona, reported: “the publication of the 100 ports of the Lloyd’s List of 2024 indicated that at the end of 2023 the port of Manzanillo was ranked 53rd in the world; With an estimated operating movement of 10 million TEUs that would be in conjunction with Nuevo Manzanillo, we would be positioning ourselves in 15th place in the ranking worldwide, with operations above those of Kaohsiung in Taiwan or Los Angeles in the United States.
Furthermore, with regard to the jobs generated, including direct and indirect, it is estimated that around 65 thousand will be created in the port among transporters, terminals, authorities, service providers, customs agents, shipping companies and other participants in the logistics chain, and It will benefit companies throughout the country, as it is the main national maritime customs.
For this purpose, a new port will be built, which will take advantage of its position in the Cuyutlán lagoon and will extend over an area of 1,880 hectares; It will be equipped with loading cranes, two of them gantry type with a load capacity of up to 75 tons, which will be the largest in Latin America, and there will be two hydrocarbon terminals and a thermoelectric terminal.
Today, every year 2,000 ships belonging to 21 shipping lines arrive and set sail at the port of Manzanillo from 415 destinations, and four million containers are handled per year.
