The Port of Lázaro Cárdenas () is the largest Mexican

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

and one of the largest

s in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

basin, with an annual traffic capacity of around 25 million tonnes of

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

and 2,200,000 TEU. In November 2003, the

Mexican Navy The Mexican Navy () is one of the components of the Mexican Armed Forces. The Secretariat of the Navy is in charge of administration of the navy. The commander of the navy is the Secretary of the Navy, who is both a cabinet minister and a career ...

seized the port from criminal gangs.

Description

Lázaro Cárdenas is home to a deep-water

that handles

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

, dry bulk, and liquid cargo. The port currently has one container terminal, which handled 1.24 million TEU in 2012, and has a total capacity of 2.2 million TEU annually. APMT has plans to build an additional container terminal that would bring the port's capacity to 3.4 million TEU in 2015 and 6.5 million TEU in 2020. Cargo moves to and from the port by road and rail equally, with rail service provided exclusively by

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, Trade name, doing business as CPKC (known as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited until 2023), is a Canadian railway holding company. Through its primary operating railroad subsidiaries, Canadian Pacific Railw ...

. The port is expected to become a major container facility due to congestion at the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

ports of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

and its relative proximity to major cities such as

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. In preparation for the port's increased capacity, railway and highway infrastructure running north–south through the center of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

has been upgraded in recent years to handle the anticipated increase in volume of goods bound for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

using this transportation corridor. If a proposed government-backed

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

port is built at Punta Colonet, Baja California, goods flowing to U.S. states like

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

could bypass the congested

region with closer access to those markets, providing increased competition with Lázaro Cárdenas. Lázaro Cárdenas is the terminus of the Salamanca-Lazaro Cardenas gas pipeline.

Statistics

In 2012, the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas handled 30,671,996 tonnes of

and 1,242,777 TEU's, making the busiest

port in

and one of the largest

ports in the country. :''* figures in tonnes''

Terminals

The port of Lázaro Cárdenas has both public and private terminals specialised in: ''Public terminals'' * Grain terminal: * Multi use terminals: *

Container terminal A container port, container terminal, or intermodal terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land v ...

s: ''Private terminals'' * Mineral terminal: * Fluid terminal: * Coal terminal: * Fertilizer terminal:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Port of Lazaro Cardenas Lazaro Cardenas, Port of Coal terminals Buildings and structures in Michoacán