Cosco Expands Logistics Strategy in Mexico with Land Services and Decarbonization Focus

In a decade, Mexico's maritime landscape has changed scale. Trade with Asia gained importance, Pacific ports absorbed larger container volumes, and supply chains began to demand more than just space aboard a vessel. In this scenario, Cosco Shipping Lines Mexico multiplied its operational volume by four to five times and is now preparing a new phase in which it intends to extend its presence from sea to land transportation and other logistics solutions.

This evolution coincides with a structural growth in trade between Mexico and China which, according to Mateo Cepeda, Senior Sales & Export Manager of Cosco Shipping Lines Mexico, allowed the company to move from a secondary position to become one of the main participants in container shipping in the country, particularly on the Pacific.

The starting point was 2016, although a broader transformation was underway. The global integration of Cosco Shipping and China Shipping occurred after one of the most turbulent periods for the maritime industry, characterized by overcapacity, falling rates, and a wave of mergers and consolidations among shipping lines. Integrated operations in Mexico began on July 15 of that year, after combining systems, vessels, container inventories, and portfolios that had previously operated separately.

However, the company's transformation cannot be explained solely by that merger. In parallel, Mexico increased its reliance on Asian supply chains, and the containerization of the transpacific route gained momentum.

This movement made the country a central piece of Cosco's regional network. Cepeda stated in an interview with T21 that more than half of the cargo from the Far East within the market that the company groups on the west coast of Latin America is destined for Mexico, while all its transpacific services in this region call at Mexican ports.

Manzanillo holds a particularly relevant position: 100% of Cosco's services in this network call at that port, while other itineraries include Ensenada and Lázaro Cárdenas before continuing to Colombia, Peru, and Chile, with Chancay, operated by Cosco Shipping Lines, joining as a new hub for connection with Asia.

"Mexico is the main engine in terms of cargo volume," said Cepeda, explaining the country's importance within the shipping company's regional structure.

The expansion, however, ceased to focus exclusively on the Pacific. A decade ago, Cosco's Mexican operation was practically focused on Manzanillo and maintained some sporadic services in Lázaro Cárdenas. Since then, it incorporated Ensenada and extended its offerings to Altamira and Veracruz, from where it participates in traffic with Europe, the Caribbean, and the east coast of South America. It even began to deploy its own vessels in some of these services, after previously operating through alliances with other carriers.

Growth is also reflected inland. From about 30 or 40 people who made up the company in 2016, Cosco Shipping Lines Mexico currently exceeds 140 employees. In addition, it established its own offices in Manzanillo and Ensenada, commercial presence in Monterrey, Querétaro, and Guadalajara, as well as operations through agents in Lázaro Cárdenas, Altamira, and Veracruz.

Behind this geographical distribution is also the way in which Mexican foreign trade has been configured. While around 85% of the country's exports are destined for the United States and Canada, a large part of maritime imports come from the Far East. For shipping companies, this structure generates an imbalance that Cepeda estimates at between four and five import containers for every maritime export container.

The response has been to seek Mexican cargo that allows for the utilization of equipment that must return to other markets. Electronics, white goods, auto parts, vehicles, cotton, minerals, beer, and refrigerated products are among the segments where the company has sought to develop exports, although Cepeda currently identifies an additional obstacle: the strength of the peso, which can reduce the competitiveness of some Mexican products in international markets.

It is precisely inland where Cosco sees one of its biggest growth areas moving forward. The location of the main industrial and consumption centers far from the coasts requires complementing maritime transport with road and rail connections. The strategy consists of increasing the proportion of shipments in which the shipping company itself incorporates land transport within the bill of lading and determines, together with the client, which combination of port, rail, or road transport is most convenient.

"We increasingly want to be a player in the supply chain and be able to provide comprehensive solutions to clients, not just in the maritime part," explained Cepeda.

The expectation is that, within the next few years, a considerable proportion of its containers will incorporate value-added services beyond the maritime leg. "Not only seeing ourselves as a company whose axis is the sea, but also the land, land transport, trucks, and trains," he added.

This commitment comes as cargo growth begins to encounter Mexico's infrastructure limitations. Cepeda observes that the Pacific continues to be the main engine of the country's maritime trade, but also identifies bottlenecks that can limit the capacity to absorb new volumes.

For the executive, this tension is also a consequence of the speed with which the market has grown. "Part of the challenge has been to see how we can, within that growth, keep up or go at the pace of infrastructure growth," he noted.

Cosco's perspective is that demand will continue. Nearshoring, he argued, does not necessarily diminish the commercial relationship with Asia: new plants installed in Mexico require machinery, components, and raw materials from the Far East, which can end up generating greater needs for transpacific transport. Even in the face of North American trade negotiations, the shipping company expects Mexican demand to maintain a growth trajectory in the medium and long term.

The immediate scenario, however, remains marked by volatility. Cepeda identified pressures on rates derived from fuel, tensions in the Middle East, disruptions related to the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, as well as blank sailings that temporarily reduce the effective availability of space.

Here appears a paradox of current maritime transport: while shipping companies continue to incorporate capacity, part of it cannot be deployed normally due to geopolitical conflicts, energy costs, and route modifications. At the same time, Mexican demand remains active. According to data referred to by Cepeda during the interview, Pacific cargo registered growth of close to 6%, compared to an approximate contraction of 7% in the Gulf and an overall advance of around 2 percent.

The company has also undergone another less visible transformation: digitalization. Processes that a decade ago depended on emails, documents, and manual procedures first migrated to e-commerce platforms and subsequently to more sophisticated technological tools. Among them is GSBN, a blockchain-based platform used to accelerate processes related to cargo release and which is already operating in Mexico.

Digitalization and integrated logistics will be accompanied by a third axis: decarbonization. Cosco has begun to incorporate methanol-powered vessels, and Cepeda anticipates that this fleet transformation will have an increasing presence in operations linked to Mexico. In parallel, artificial intelligence and new digital platforms should facilitate bookings and client management without eliminating, he assured, human contact.

The dimension of this change can also be observed in the ships. When integrated operations began in Mexico, Cosco depended on shared services with other shipping companies; in 2018, it launched its first service operated entirely with its own vessels, and in 2024, it added a second. This is in addition to its participation in Ocean Alliance, formed in 2017.

Thus, the first 10 years were marked by the consolidation of services, routes, offices, and volume; the next aim for a different transformation. The focus is no longer solely on placing more capacity between Asia and Mexican ports, but on capturing a larger part of the supply chain that begins or ends behind them.

"Growth, continued confidence in Mexico, continuous investment," summarized Cepeda about the company's horizon, but now with three components that will define this expansion: door-to-door services, digitalization, and decarbonization.