News / Mexican port of Ensenada eyes investment to boost intermodal ambitions

The Mexican port of Ensenada has ambitions to play a larger role in transpacific trade and is looking for investment for better rail connectivity to boost its potential in intermodal traffic flows.

The port has been a gateway for a number of large Asian firms, including Toyota, Samsung, Hyundai, and Sony, and last year throughput grew 0.4%, to almost three million tons. And Hutchison Ports spent 2.3bn pesos ($118.68m) expanding its multi-use terminal last year.

The northern-most port on Mexico’s Pacific coast, it’s just 200 miles south of the Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, for which Ensenada has at times been an overflow valve. The local branch of Mexico’s national port administration (Asipona) sees promise for a significant increase in traffic.

The government in Mexico City obviously agrees. In December, it announced plans to invest close to 33 billion pesos ($1.6bn) on the modernisation and expansion of six “strategic” seaports – Ensenada getting $283.7m for projects at the port.

Industry executives, including Mexico’s association of customs brokers, CAAAREM, have repeatedly stressed the need for port infrastructure improvement, noting that current conditions increase logistics costs.

And port investment is part of a larger plan to develop the Mexican economy. Another key plank is the creation of ten new “industrial corridors”, select areas to develop specific sectors.

Meanwhile, Asipona Ensenada has allocated funding to projects including the expansion of its berth, from 300m to 600m, enlarging yard space to boost container capacity by 50%, to 800,000 teu, and the acquisition of equipment.

Ensenada is better known as the leading cruise destination on Mexico’s Pacific coast, and is made up of two precincts – Ensenada and El Sauzal. The set-up will be revamped to consolidate cruise activities at the Ensenada section, while El Sauzal will accommodate cargo activities and fishing vessels in separate sections.

The project, set to kick off this year, is slated for completion in 2028, and according to Asipona Ensenada, the port will be able to handle 1.5m teu by 2040.

While the infusion of government funds is most welcome, there is a need for more, to allow the port to realise its full potential. Asipona Ensenada wants a new rail link from El Sauzal to Tecate, a distance of 98.7km. The port needs this for travellers and for more cost-effective and faster intermodal capabilities, said Admiral Luis Javier Portillo Villanueva, the organisation’s director general.

And Roberto Romandia, director general of Baja Railway, argues that a full development of a port must be accompanied by rail.

The administration in Mexico City has demonstrated that it is keen both on port development and on rail transport, as the development of the Maya Train and plans for the Tehuantepec rail link, to connect the nation’s Pacific and Gulf coasts, shows. Cargo movement figures prominently in both projects.