Monday, June 9, 2025

Isthmus of Tehuantepec cargo shipments could increase by 11 times

Modernization of the railway between Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, could increase cargo capacity between the two ports by more than 11 times, according to the state-owned Isthmus of Tehuantepec rail company.

The company said the new rail link between the cities – planned as part of the federal government’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor project – would allow shipments between the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific coasts to increase from an estimated 443,165 tonnes in 2019 to 5.61 million tonnes annually.

Communications and Transportation Secretary Javier Jiménez Espriú told the newspaper El Financiero that studies for the upgrade of the 303-kilometer railway are currently being carried out prior to the project going to tender.

As part of the trade corridor project, the government also plans to expand the ports in Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz. Ten industrial parks are expected to be developed in and around both cities.

Héctor López Gutiérrez, chief of the government’s ports and merchant marine agency, said that 16 companies have expressed interest in building and operating new container terminals at the two ports.

In addition, the Isthmus region is slated to become a free zone, where value added and income taxes will be cut by half.

The entire trade corridor project is expected to cost some 259 billion pesos (US $13.6 billion) of which the government will provide around 100 billion.

Federal authorities will invest 31.2 billion pesos in the expansion of the ports, 23.3 billion on electrical energy projects, 10.4 billion on highway upgrades, 10 billion on natural gas infrastructure, 17 billion on the Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos refineries, 1.1 billion on the railway and 440 million on telecommunications, according to a plan presented to the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Rafael Marín Mollinedo, chief of the trade corridor project, said the EIB has expressed interest in participating in the project.

According to a report in the newspaper El Heraldo de México, shipping companies’ use of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor will save them as many as four days in comparison with using the Panama Canal.

But the president of the Mexican Shipping Agents Association said in April that any notion that the new rail project will allow Mexico to compete with the Panama Canal is a “pipe dream.”

Cristian Bennett Lira said that at least 200 trains a day would have to run between Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos in order for the railway to be able to compete with the 105-year-old United States-built feat of engineering.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Heraldo de México (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Sport fishers cast off the fishing boat Red Rooster III

This US sportfishing boat keeps sneaking into Mexico’s natural protected areas. Mexico is still working on how to respond

18
Mexico’s ability to defend its natural refuges is being put to the test in North America's largest marine protected area.
material on fire

Sheinbaum cancels Guerrero trip after protesters sack headquarters of rival teachers union

1
The president called the vandalism a "provocation" after a three-week strike by the dissident CNTE teachers union escalated into violence in Mexico City and Guerrero.
A young Mexican student wears a harvard sweatshirt

Mexico City teen who developed AI medical app wins Harvard Book Award

4
The recognition is given out by Harvard alumni to high-achieving students from a pool of 2,000 high schools from around the world.