[271016.EN.BIZ] Too Many Box Ports Risk Overcapacity, Now Mexico Bereft of Ro-Ro

CONTAINER terminals springing up on Mexico's Pacific and Atlantic coasts now risk overcapacity while leaving the nation woefully bereft of ro-ro facilities, reports London's Loadstar.

"Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru have all been identified as trending towards high excess capacity," said John Bressi, general manager of Stevedoring Services of America's (SSA) Tuxpan terminal.

Speaking at the recent TOC Americas Container Supply Chain event in Cancun, he said 70.9 million TEU of new capacity was set to be built across Latin America - the equivalent of a 70 per cent of the region's total port throughput last year.

Mr Bressi is overseeing the development of Mexico's newest port, at Tuxpan, on the country's Gulf Coast, and he admitted that capturing volumes immediately after opening would be difficult.

Current annual capacity across the Mexican Gulf coast is 2.1 million TEU, in the medium term that will rise to 5.2 million TEU once the developments listed above have been completed.

The situation is mirrored on the Pacific coast, where current capacity is 5.5 million TEU, with this year's throughput forecast to reach 3.75 million TEU or 68 per cent utilisation - with another 3.3 million TEU capacity set to be added.

With a projected annual growth rate of four per cent, it will take 22 years before the additional capacity, mostly set to be built at Lazaro Cardenas, is used.

At the same time, there is enormous investment being ploughed into the country's automotive manufacturing sector, but little show in the way in the way of ro-ro facilities for those exports. Last year 3.8 million cars were produced, which is set to rise to five million within four years.

The overall car handling capacity at the country's ports is expected to reach 1.4 million units by 2017, a glaring shortfall.

The judge ordered the companies to direct $200,000 of the penalty to the National Parks Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; and put them on probation for five years.

Source : HKSG.