Coatzacoalcos port expansion provides private sector opportunities

As the expansion of Mexico’s Coatzacoalcos port in Veracruz state is wrapping up, opportunities for the private sector to develop a container terminal are on the horizon.

Works at the port are related to the 20bn-peso (US$1bn) Tehuantepec isthmus rail corridor, which will link Coatzacoalcos and Salinas Cruz port in Oaxaca state.

On Monday, the Tehuantepec isthmus rail corridor authority (CIIT) said the 116mn-peso dredging project had already been completed. It involved removing some 500,000m3 of material in Coatzacoalcos and another 150,000m3 in the nearby Pajaritos lagoon, where planning for a new container terminal is underway. 

Coatzacoalcos port authority Apicoatza also finished in March the 330mn-peso expansion of Coatzacoalcos port’s Laguna de Pajaritos dock to 400m and a 49mn-peso access road, all as part of government plans to turn Coatzacoalcos into a logistics hub and a gateway to Asia. 

An upcoming terminal 

Since February, the authority has launched some 15 tenders to pave the way for the 9bn-peso stage two of the Pajaritos lagoon infrastructure project, which will likely be awarded to the private sector through a public-private partnership concession. 

Most of the tenders concern minor works such as building sewage, drainage, water and electrical systems, but also clearing the area where the port infrastructure will be built.

Among the most important contracts so far is the one Apicoatza awarded on August 17 to Consultores Asociados para el Desarrollo Sustentable, which is carrying out the environmental impact statement (EIS) for a freight rail line to access the port project. 

Although updates for stage two of the Pajaritos lagoon infrastructure were not provided, the previous administration completed in 2014 the cost-benefit analysis, detailing the works needed. 

Stage one involves a new 273m dock, dredging works, a railway system, and complementary works. 

Stage two requires adding stretches of about 330m to the dock, dredging 60,000m3 of silted material in canals, expanding the railway system, a new 7.5ha area for storing containers and a new 0.5km four-lane highway access.