Cars are coming through Altamira port for the first time and this is due to the security conditions and available infrastructure, while exports are on the rise.
The Directorate of Altamira Terminal Portuaria (ATP) revealed that so far in 2023, an average of 2,500 vehicles have been imported through two ships.
“For the first time, various vehicle manufacturing companies decide to import vehicles through the port of Altamira, which gives us great pleasure, as it indicates their trust in us to mobilize their products and present them in the country is,” declared Adone Navarro Saad, director of the Altamira Port Terminal (ATP).
He explained that previously cars were only imported through the port of Veracruz, so the port of Altamira has already entered that market and not just for export units.
“We continue to import auto parts from other parts of the country, 40 percent of cargo movement is handled, but automotive companies such as Chevrolet, Nissan, Kia, Mercedes Benz also export their units through the port of Altamira. Exports continue, we are growing more and more”.
A few days ago, the director of the National Port System Administration (Esipona), Oscar Miguel Ochoa Goreña, confirmed that the dredging work being carried out in the navigation channel would allow the arrival of larger vessels.
Navarro Saad said, “The terminals were asking for this, because first they touch in Veracruz or some ports in the United States and then they come with us, now with this they are going to come directly with us.”
While the export of automobiles was the only line of business in the port of Altamira with an increase in 2022, as the rest suffered a general decrease of 6.4%, there has been an increase of 33.7% so far this year.
“Cargo in vehicles has not declined, but on the contrary Altamira is exporting, last year just over 330,000 cars were exported,” said the ATP director.
The growth seen in car exports has been sustained in recent months and reflects a significant recovery after years complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the end of February 2023, the Asipona Altamira recorded a circulation of 51,468 units, a 33.7% increase in contrast to the same period but in 2022, when 38,498 units were mobilized.
Mainly vehicles from KIA, General Motors, Chrysler, Nissan and Mercedes Benz are exported through Altamira port.
Adoney Navarro said that the port of Altamira has enough land for the storage of vehicles, which is why he urges people to have the confidence to expand their unloading.
“The cars which were unloaded in December for January all went by rail and they were out in 15 days. The market is too complex to give certainty to importers”, he pointed out.
The ports with the most automotive cargo are: Veracruz, 140,400 units, and Lázaro Cárdenas, which handled 105,857 units in February, while Altamira totaled 51,468 units.
At the end of 2022, according to the last annual report given by the Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine, the final tonnage was 20.3 million, representing the second decline in three years in 2020 after the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, although without The shortfall comes at a stage of economic reactivation globally.
With regard to vehicle mobilization, the figure is set to close in 2022 at 342,448 units, half a year below the 2021 average, but as production ramps up at plants in Bajío and the country’s northeast, the United States, Europe Shipments increased in the U.S. and South America, which posted a 14.3% increase.
