The United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has released its annual report on port activity in the region with Panama’s Colon port complex top of the list with 4.32m teu and growth of 11% compared to 2017.
Brazil’s Santos follows with 3.84m teu, up 7.2% on the previous year while Mexico’s Manzanillo is in third place with 3.08m teu, up 8.8%. In fourth and fifth positions come Cartagena, Colombia with 2.86m teu up 6.9% and Panama’s Pacific complex with 2.52m teu – the only port complex registering a decrease of 15.6%.
Panama’s Colon port complex includes the terminals of Manzanillo International Terminal-Panama (MIT), Colon Container Terminal (CCT) and Cristobal. The Pacific port complex in Panama is composed by Balboa and PSA-Panama.
However, when listing the major ports in terms of transhipment in Latin America and the Caribbean, the ranking is slightly different.
The five largest ports in transhipment are Panama’s Colon port complex with 3,73m teu, Panama’s Pacific complex, 2.24m teu, followed by Cartagena in Colombia, 2.15m teu, Kingston in Jamaica, 1.48m teu and Santos, in Brazil with 1.07m teu.
Brazil registered the largest cargo volume by country with 10.04m teu, Mexico, 6.98m teu, Panama, 6.87m teu, Colombia, 4.58m teu and Chile, 4.27m teu.
Michele Labrut
Americas Correspondent, Seatrade Maritime News