The Multipurpose Terminal (TUM) of Coatzacoalcos, this will be done on a surface of 67,985.42 square meters for containerized cargo Coatzacoalcos Port will be ready to be the best alternative to the Panama Canal
The Coatzacoalcos Port plans to expand its container shipping capacity over the next five years with the construction of the Multipurpose Terminal, which will be developed by Mota Engil Mexico, to go from 300 monthly to 150 thousand annually, capturing the demand for merchandise that cannot pass through the Panama Canal.
This was announced by the general director of the National Port System Administration (Asipona) Coatzacoalcos, Miguel Ángel Sierra Carrasco, in the first program of the second season of ´Voces en Libertad´, produced by Diario del Istmo.
“We are not competing with the Panama Canal, but only absorbing the demand that the Panama Canal cannot satisfy, that is the opportunity we want to take advantage of and in fact, the circumstances of the environment right now are giving us a magnificent opportunity … right now the next point is us … it will mean an increase in the arrival of ships to Salina Cruz and an increase in the arrival of ships to the port of Coatzacoalcos, an increase in the handling of containers”, he revealed.
It should be noted that it was on November 29, 2023 when Mota Engil Mexico won the tenders to build the Multipurpose Terminals (TUM) in the Asiponas of Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz, each with investments of five billion pesos.
In the case of the TUM of Coatzacoalcos, this will be done on a surface of 67,985.42 square meters for containerized cargo and that of Salina Cruz with 104,091 meters; both are complementary works of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT), where both ports play an important role in the face of the problems of sending merchandise from the Panama Canal.
“We are currently handling 300 containers per month at the Port of Coatzacoalcos, it is nothing, it is a minimal part of a ship … today the ships that cannot cross the Panama Canal are three or four thousand containers and then that opportunity opens up to be able to receive them by Salina Cruz, bring them by the train of Railroads of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and ship them here (in Coatzacoalcos) so that they can go to the east coast of the United States”, said Sierra Carrasco.
IT WILL BE LOCATED NEAR THE DEVELOPMENT POLE
The TUM of the Asipona Coatzacoalcos will be located between the El Gavilán plot (PDB Coatzacoalcos 2) and the Pajaritos Port Enclosure, which will leave an estimated 190 permanent and 628 indirect jobs, while it will start with the phase of sheet piling, cuts and soil improvement in 12 months.
“This business is envisioned to grow gradually, in a slow way, with consistent steps because we cannot afford to fail, because today the business of goods is delivery just in time for the production chain,” he said.
According to the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), in the first two years of operation and maintenance of the TUM Coatzacoalcos, the estimated cost will be one hundred million pesos.
“If I’m talking about a ship of three to four thousand containers, a single ship (in Coatzacoalcos) with 300 containers, we’re talking about a growth in a single ship of 1000%, that’s the size of the challenge, to go from 300 containers to a stage of being able to move three thousand containers in a given time.
“What are we estimating?
That our Multipurpose Terminal that is in the port of Coatzacoalcos, has an annual capacity of being able to move 150 thousand containers,” Sierra Carrasco pointed out.
With the adjustments made to the Pajaritos Port Enclosure with the works of the CIIT, together with the construction of the TUM Coatzacoalcos, it is estimated to detonate the development of the port with the arrival of ships to new commercial destinations.
Source: Diario del Itsmo
