Lázaro Cárdenas is a port city in the southern state of Michoacán, Mexico. It is the second largest port after the port of Manzanillo. It has a population of about 170,000 and a large number of migrant workers.
It was the birthplace of Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, the 52nd president of Mexico, who also played a role in the Mexican Revolution, and it was renamed in 1970 to reflect his achievements.
The types of cargo handled are mostly mineral resources and finished vehicles, and the number of containers handled is increasing year on year to 1,318,632 TEUs in 2019. Major shipping companies from around the world call at the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, and several of them serve the Port of Yokohama as a regular container route. The voyage to the Port of Yokohama takes about three weeks. The site is larger than other ports, with about 1,000 hectares of unexploited land that is highly expandable. As a result, the importance of the port as a link between Asia and Oceania is increasing.
The capital city of Mexico City is about 630 km away and the city of Guadalajara, Mexico’s largest commercial center, is about 500 km away. All other major cities are well served by highways and trailers that transport many containers between them. It is also linked to the transportation rail network and is linked to the United States, as well as to the industrial cities in Mexico, where freight traffic is carried out by rail. The ratio is 63% road transport to 37% by rail transport.