Manzanillo International Terminal

Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) was built on a former US Naval base at Coco Solo Sur. During the 1980’s, the area was used as a storage facility and distribution center of vehicles for Latin America. In 1993, the original Ro-Ro berth concept grew to become a world-class container transshipment facility, fully equipped with over 2,300 meters in 8 berths.

These berths are distributed in 6 container berths and 2 Ro-Ro berths. The container berths are equipped with 21 post-panamax and super post-panamax quay cranes; over 2,800 reefer plugs and modern terminal management computer systems. The port have a handling capacity of 3.5 million TEUs. Transshipment operations represent 87.7% of their containerized activity.

MIT – Panama, S.A. is a joint-venture between Carrix, Inc. and the Motta and Heilbron families of Panama. Carrix, Inc. is a parent company of SSA Marine, one of the world’s largest privately held marine and rail terminal operator. The Motta and Heilbron families form one of Panama’s biggest industrial groups, holding interests in banking, telecommunications, whole sale and aviation, among others.

MIT is located on the Atlantic Coast of Panama, near the Northern entrance of the Panama Canal. It is side-connected to France Field, the largest warehousing area of Colon Free Zone. Across Randolph Avenue, MIT has developed a logistics park with four warehouses, off dock empty area, railroad access and a value added area oriented to increase cargo added value activities.

MIT has become a full logistics complex that includes a first world container and Ro-Ro terminal, large container storage areas, a logistics park, and a multimodal platform that connects maritime, ground, railroad and air transportation services.

Manzanillo International Terminal was built as a specialized container terminal. Over the years, this seaport has increased their services into the container segment with the following: A Container Equipment Maintenance (CEM) Unit that provides maintenance and repair of container and container chassis. A Refrigerated Equipment Maintenance (REM) Unit that takes care of the power plugs for reefer containers, preventive maintenance and damage repair of refrigerated equipment and different type of generators such as Power Packs, Gen Set, among others.

Additionally, MIT handles vehicles and rolling equipment, generally known as Roll on-Roll off (Ro-Ro); and Project Cargo.

Last Update: March 2024

MIT has demonstrated its importance in the regional trade and its handling capability by becoming one of the leading single seaport in terms of TEUs throughput during the past years in Latin America. It is mostly dedicated to containerized and Ro-Ro cargo. In 2023, decreased the container movements to 2.62 million TEUs, where transshipment represented 85.7% of total movements. In 2022 the port handled 2.74 million TEUs with 87.7% transshipment operations, while in 2021 it moved 2.81 million TEUs, where transshipment represented 88.7% of total throughput.