Lazaro Cardenas (L.C.) is a deep sea port on the Pacific coast of Michoacán in Mexico. A gateway to Asia and South America it is closer to the North Eastern U.S. A. and Canada than either Los Angeles or Long Beach. It rivals those ports for tonnage.
For more than a decade it has been increasing its capacity to handle containers, automobiles and bulk shipments. In 2016 it handled more than 400 million tons of cargo. With its current new expansion it anticipates a 33% increase in capacity for 2018.
The port has an agreement with Kansas City Railroad and Mexican aduana (Customs Service) that allows it to ship containers unopened to the final destination. The new technology was introduced in 2016 and allows shippers to track containers and know their exact location. The ability to combine loads saves miles and cuts emissions… A steady stream of automobiles can be seen entering Mexico on the main Michoacán toll road. Driving back from our state capital of Morelia, I have seen convoys with as many as 10 car carrying tucks heading into the interior of the Republic.
This year two islands in the Bay at L.C. have come under federal jurisdiction. This will facilitate further expansion in what has now become a special Economic Development Zone for Mexico.
The port at L.C. is managed by Hutchison Ports. This company has ports in 48 other locations including Asia, the Middle East Africa, and Europe and of course, The Americas. The company was founded by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-sheng. Always a visionary, when his family fled China before the arrival of the Communists, his confidence in plastic led him to create a plastic flower producing plant. More recently he would become one to the original investors in Facebook. Canadians will remember him when he made a controversial purchase of the Expo-86 lands on the harbor in Vancouver, B.C., through his real estate arm, Concord Pacific. That land has been fully developed and thousands now reside there in luxury condominiums.
