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During the first eight months of 2026, the movement of 20-foot containers (TEU) in Mexican ports showed positive figures overall, compared to the same period last year. However, a slowdown was observed in August compared to the previous month.
According to statistics from the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar), the National Port System registered a total of 6,512,648 TEUs mobilized between January and August of this year, 3.4% more than the 6,297,882 containers handled in the same cycle of 2025.
This increase was mainly driven by the port of Manzanillo, which accumulated 2,824,839 TEUs in the reference period, an increase of 11.0% compared to the same period in 2025.
Thus, Manzanillo consolidated its position as the main hub for container handling, operating 43.4% of the total TEUs mobilized nationwide, while last year it operated 40.4% of the total.
Lázaro Cárdenas ranked second with 1,805,022 TEUs, representing an advance of 4.9% compared to the January-August 2025 period.
The port of Veracruz accumulated 802,184 TEUs in the first eight months of 2026; this represented a decrease of 5.6% compared to the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Altamira handled a total of 579,023 TEUs in the January-August 2026 cycle, an annual decrease of 5.3 percent.
These four ports concentrated 92% of the total container movement in the country.
The National Port System registered a total of 6,512,648 containers, a growth of 3.4% compared to 2025. Pacific ports are in positive territory.
An analysis carried out by T21 Business Intelligence shows that, after reaching the highest volume of the year in July with 877,680 TEUs operated in the National Port System, a contraction of 3.3% on a monthly basis was registered in August, with a total of 848,641 TEUs.
In the first eight months of the year, July is the cycle with the highest container movement, while in 2025 the highest period was August.
Unlike what happened in 2025, when the cycle with the highest container movement was August, in 2026 the highest level was reached last July.
The total figures for ports in container handling were influenced by the pace achieved by Manzanillo, which was precisely last July, when it had its highest record of the year, while in August it contracted by 4.1 percent.
The port of Lázaro Cárdenas followed the same trend, handling 221,131 TEUs in the eighth month of the year, which represented a decrease of 7.8% compared to the movement of the previous July.
In contrast, Veracruz totaled 109,556 TEUs operated in August, an increase of 4.06% compared to the seventh month of the year. Meanwhile, the port of Altamira, with 80,701 containers, also registered an advance of 4.6% compared to last July.
Five ports concentrate 96% of the country's container handling, led by Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas.
