Mexico eyes new Manzanillo terminals

   Mexico’s government wants to build a marine terminal that could nearly double the annual volume of containers moving through the country’s busiest seaport.
   The Port of Manzanillo said the federal government is considering a $1.2 billion expansion for the port, which is located in the western state of Colima. The expansion would include the development of four new marine terminals.
   Along with terminals for handling grains, minerals and oil products, the project would include a specialized container terminal capable of handling up to 1.75 million TEUs.
   The new projects would be sited in the neighboring Cuyutlan Lagoon. Manzanillo’s port authority, along with Mexico’s government, have carried out dredging and channel clearing in the northern area of the port.
   It also plans to carry out environmental remediation work in the lagoon such as building dams against silt and modernizing a water treatment plant.
   Manzanillo has a total of 14 operating terminals to handle a variety of bulk goods. SSA Marine, a unit of Carrix, operates Manzanillo’s container terminal. The 89-acre facility has five containership berths capable of handling post-Panamax containerships. 
   The port reported 13.5 million tons of cargo and 1.24 million TEUs handled in the first five months of 2019, an increase of 1.2 and 4.8% from the same period last year, respectively.