Altamira Prepares Six Terminals as Mexico Port Plan Advances

The Port of Altamira is preparing for the installation of six new port terminals, as the port authority advances excavation and technical assessments in the north section of the customs-controlled port zone to offer future terminal sites to private developers, according to reports by Milenio.

The National Port System Administration (ASIPONA) Altamira has included the project in its 2026 internal works portfolio, alongside two other priorities: customs modernization and raising channel capacity through dredging, Milenio reports.

Karen Guillén, Commercial Manager, Altamira, says the short-term priority is conditioning new berthing points in a zone that has seen less development than the port’s south area, where specialized docks already operate across business lines that include containers, vehicles, general cargo, and fluid handling.

Work in the north zone began in 2025 and is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026, which would leave the area ready for construction of six terminals, Milenio reports. 

Altamira has 13.5m of draft, which the port considers sufficient to handle larger vessels, but companies have asked for up to 16m in the navigation channel. Customs modernization works are also advancing. The port reports that the project had reached 35% completion by the end of last year, with works expected to accelerate in 2026 and 2027 backed by a budget of more than MX$1.5 billion (US$83.7 million).

Altamira’s terminal expansion plans come as the Port of Matamoros formalizes its own development roadmap for 2023–2028. In its Port Development Master Plan (PMDP), Matamoros explicitly positions Altamira and Tampico as the ports that, at the time of drafting, were already serving northeast Gulf demand, reporting that in 2022 those ports handled 27.45 million tons of petroleum and commercial cargo for the region.

The Matamoros PMDP describes Altamira and Tampico as significant players in Gulf flows, stating they operate 17% of the cargo entering or leaving the Gulf of Mexico, of which 38% is containerized cargo and 37% is mineral bulk. For containers specifically, the PMDP reports that Mexico’s Gulf and Caribbean coastline moves close to 2.3 million TEUs per year, with Veracruz at 52% and Altamira at 37%, and it estimates that Altamira and Tampico together move close to 900,000 TEUs per year.

The Matamoros PMDP also flags Altamira as a specialized hub for “other fluids.” It says Matamoros’ potential volumes in that business line are limited because a large part of that traffic is handled at specialized terminals in Altamira, which the PMDP notes has trended downward over the past decade.

Altamira has attracted significant investment interest due to its strategic position and capabilities. Last year, Cubico Sustainable Investments, alongside Tamaulipas’ Ministry for Energy Development (SEDENER) and the Altamira municipal government, announced the installation of a solar resource measurement tower in Altamira, Tamaulipas. This is the site of Cubico’s future US$100 million, 100MW Altamira solar farm, reports MBN. 

According to the Tamaulipas government, the tower sits on roughly 180ha of private land in the Puerto Altamira region of Tamaulipas. Once operational, the installation is expected to generate over 200,000MWh of clean energy annually, enough to power thousands of homes, businesses, and industries across the region.