Mexico’s New Canal to Rival Panama’s Route

Cancún — The Tehuantepec Canal project, promoted by Quintana Roo-based businessman Miguel Quintana Pali, is designed to transform the Isthmus of Tehuantepec into "the most important port and industrial zone in the world due to its strategic location in the 'economic navel of the globe.'"

According to a summary of the preliminary project obtained by the reporter, this artificial sea channel without locks would provide Mexico with a logistical platform to complement the Tehuantepec Isthmus Railway, constructed during the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

That railway, also known as the Corredor Interoceánico del Istmo de Tehuantepec Train, already connects the ports of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, on the Pacific, with that of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, in the Gulf of Mexico. The Tehuantepec Isthmus Railway has provided freight transport services since December 2023. Passenger service was inaugurated shortly after. Its primary objective is to stimulate the region's economic development by facilitating the transport of goods and passengers.

It would be the ideal transport for moving goods coast-to-coast between the 10 industrial zones planned along its route, to which two more in Chiapas would be added, and between the manufacturing zones and the ports. Chinese companies are already investing in the area.

The major disadvantage is that, in the best-case scenario, the railway could move up to 3,400 twenty-foot containers per day, far below the 14,000 that a single container ship can carry.

Closer to Suppliers

According to the preliminary project, the Tehuantepec canal, 270 km long and built in the narrowest region of the Republic, is also presented as a response "to the strategic need of the United States to bring its main suppliers closer to home."

In fact, it highlights that, departing from Miami, the journey would be reduced by 2,400 km (2 days) compared to the Panama Canal.

The project was initially planned in two stages. In the first, a canal 150 m wide would be excavated over 12 years, which would be fully navigable and have the capacity to allow the passage of 72 "Post Panamax Plus" ships daily.

In the second phase, which would take 8 years, the canal would be widened to 250 m, so that 288 "PPP" ships could transit it daily. The modified project sets a 15-year timeline to complete the work and would enable its use by 190 container ships and other types of vessels.