Preparations have come from port operators such as Conteconthe subsidiary of the Philippine group ICTSI that has a project of investment of 230 million dollars by 2025 to have the necessary infrastructure and forge a capacity of up to 2 million containers.
“They are million-dollar investments, and they have happened because 10 years ago we thought that in the future this type of ship would arrive, and for this you have to size the docks appropriately, the cranes, have everything ready to receive ships like this one,” explains in an interview José Antonio Contreras, general director of Contecon Manzanillo.
This is the ship’s first stop since leaving Busan, South Korea. After visiting Manzanillo, it will dock in Lázaro Cárdenas, and continue its journey to Buenaventura, Callao and Posorja, to return to Lázaro Cárdenas, Manzanillo, Yokohama and back to Busan.
The arrival of the CMA CGM Alexander Von Humboldt to Manzanillo occurs at a time when the port has managed to grow at a forced march, limited by the capacity of terrestrial connectivity, which implies that trucks queue up to 12 hours to enter the site.
The company has invested in the purchase of RTG and dock cranes to expedite the unloading of containers that can take eight to 10 days to leave Manzanillo. In the case of the CMA CGM vessel, this means unloading around 5,000 containers in around 30 hours.
For this year, the entry of at least two more ships the size of the Alexander Von Humboldt ship from CMA CGM is expected, and the incursion of other shipping companies is also expected to carry ships of similar dimensions in the medium term.
While this can be expedited, there are items such as land access that still represent a limitation. “Manzanillo has to keep doing things. You have to continue building the accesses, a new one is being built in the north. There we have a challenge that we have been suffering in recent years, but the authorities have put their hands to work and between February and March that work will be ready,” warns Contreras.
In the first half of the year, Manzanillo processed just over 2 million containers, 4% more than in the same period in 2022. Imports have grown at a slightly higher rate –4.3%– than exports (3.8%), and constitute just over half of the port’s activity.