APM Terminals Readies Lázaro Cárdenas TEC2

Phase I of the $900 million semi-automated deep-water terminal at Mexico’s second-busiest container port is to open soon with 750 meters of quay and 1.2 million TEU annual throughput capacity.

APM Terminals has forged ahead with the new deep-water semi-automated Lázaro Cárdenas Terminal 2 (TEC2) project despite lagging global and regional Latin American economic growth, and sluggish global container shipping growth rates, with the full expectation that the 1.2 million TEU annual throughput capacity added to Mexico’s port infrastructure will have an immediate impact on Mexico’s local and international trade growth.

APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer, who toured the TEC2 site on Mexico’s Pacific Coast and said: “Mexico is not only the second-largest economy in Latin America, but also one of the world’s Top 15 manufacturing economies, including having become one of the world’s top five car makers, and we feel that investing in Mexico’s continuing economic and trade progress is a sound business strategy.”

Manufacturing, and the supply of components destined for Mexican factories for assembly and export to the USA as well as overseas, has become an increasingly important sector of Mexico’s $1.16 trillion economy since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) linked the US, Canadian and Mexican markets 22 years ago.

President Enrique Peña Nieto has emphasised that the implementation of recent reforms enacted by the Mexican government along with 44 trade agreements now in place, have positioned Mexico as one of the most attractive economies for global investment opportunities.

At full build-out, TEC2 will double the quayside to 1,485 meters, increase the number of STS cranes from seven to fifteen, and more than double annual throughput capacity to 4.1 million TEUs. It will be linked by intermodal rail to the US rail network and to Mexico’s most important consumer market.

With the completion of the APM Terminals acquisition of Grup Maritim TCB’s Latin American assets, the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network has added operations in Puerto Progreso, on Mexico’s Gulf Coast. APM Terminals’ other Latin American operations now include interests in two terminals in Colombia, one in Peru, one in Argentina, and four in Brazil, with new terminals also in development in Quetzal, Guatemala and Moin, Costa Rica.

For more information visit www.apmterminals.com

6th April 2016