Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) ’s container port hierarchy has a remarkably familiar top tier.
In 2024, Santos remained the region’s largest container port, handling 5.48 million TEU. Manzanillo in Mexico followed with 3.92 million TEU, while Cartagena Bay ranked third at 3.70 million TEU.
The striking point is not simply their scale. It is their continuity.
All three held exactly the same positions in 2019, 2023 and 2024, according to ECLAC’s latest regional port report. That stability spans a period marked by the pandemic, severe supply-chain disruption, freight-rate volatility, constraints at the Panama Canal and wider geopolitical shocks.
Below the podium, however, the picture is much more fluid.
Several ports have moved sharply through the regional ranking since 2019. Others have recovered after significant setbacks or slipped from previously strong positions. The result is a hierarchy that combines persistent leadership at the top with far greater movement beneath it.
For port authorities, terminal operators and investors, that distinction matters. A ranking can show where volumes are concentrating. It does not, by itself, explain why.
Stability at the top
Santos has retained first place across all three reference years in EC LAC ’s comparative ranking: 2019, 2023 and 2024.
Its 5.48 million TEU throughput in 2024 also left a substantial gap over the rest of the regional field. Manzanillo remained second at 3.92 million TEU, while Cartagena Bay held third place with 3.70 million TEU.
This continuity is notable because the operating environment changed dramatically between 2019 and 2024.
The global container shipping market moved through a pandemic-driven capacity shock, historic congestion, equipment shortages and extreme freight-rate increases. It then entered another phase of disruption shaped by drought-related constraints at the Panama Canal, attacks affecting Red Sea navigation and persistent geopolitical uncertainty.
Yet the regional top three remained unchanged.
Immediately below them, some positions also show continuity. Callao moved from fifth place in 2019 to fourth in 2023 and retained that position in 2024, when it handled 3.07 million TEU.
The Panamanian and Caribbean hub landscape also remained heavily represented near the top. MIT ranked fifth in 2024 with 2.71 million TEU, Balboa sixth with 2.63 million TEU, and Kingston seventh with 2.52 million TEU.
But once the ranking moves beyond the leading group, continuity becomes much less pronounced.
The real movement is below the podium
Lázaro Cárdenas provides one of the clearest examples.
The Mexican port ranked 15th in 2019, rose to ninth in 2023 and reached eighth in 2024, when throughput stood at 2.41 million TEU. That represents a seven-place gain over the five-year comparison.
Other movements are even larger.
Colón CCT advanced from 23rd place in 2019 to 13th in 2023, then entered the regional top ten in 2024 with 1.58 million TEU.
Limón together with APM moved from 26th in 2019 to 17th in 2023 and 11th in 2024, reaching 1.49 million TEU.
Rodman PSA followed a similar upward trajectory, moving from 28th in 2019 to 15th in 2023 and 14th in 2024, with throughput of 1.38 million TEU.
These are substantial shifts in relative position. They show that the regional field beneath the largest ports is capable of changing quickly.
Buenaventura offers a different type of trajectory. It ranked 11th in 2019, fell to 22nd in 2023, then recovered to 13th in 2024 with 1.40 million TEU. Its movement illustrates why a single-year ranking can conceal as much as it reveals: a port may be recovering from a previous decline rather than following a continuous upward path.
The same caution applies to downward movements.
Guayaquil ranked sixth in both 2019 and 2023, but fell to 20th in 2024, with reported throughput of 1.14 million TEU. Valparaíso moved from 14th in 2019 to 19th in 2023 and 25th in 2024. Montevideo shifted from 17th to 16th, then to 21st.
Those changes are significant. But they should not automatically be read as permanent losses of structural competitiveness.
Rankings show movement — not necessarily structural power
Throughput rankings are valuable because they provide a clear measure of container volumes handled across ports and port zones. They can reveal concentration, relative scale and changes in position over time.
They are not a complete measure of port power.
Two ports with similar TEU volumes may operate under very different conditions. One may rely heavily on domestic imports and exports linked to a large hinterland. Another may derive a substantial share of activity from transshipment. A third may combine gateway and hub functions.
Those differences matter when rankings change.
A port can gain volume because domestic trade expands. It can also move upward because carriers concentrate relay cargo at a hub, introduce new services or redesign feeder connections. Conversely, a decline in ranking may reflect lost transshipment flows, temporary service changes or movements elsewhere in the regional network rather than a simple deterioration in local demand.
This is particularly relevant in a region where EC LAC identifies transshipment as an important factor behind differences in port performance.
It also matters because global container shipping networks are being reconfigured. The report estimates that the combined share of the three leading carrier or alliance groupings fell from above 80% in 2022-2023 to 61.2% in 2025, alongside the end of the 2M structure and the emergence of new configurations.
For ports exposed to hub-and-spoke networks, changes in carrier strategy can influence throughput and relative position. A ranking may therefore capture the outcome of several forces at once: trade demand, terminal capacity, service patterns, transshipment flows and network decisions.
That is why the 2024 hierarchy should be read carefully.
The persistence of Santos, Manzanillo and Cartagena Bay at the top points to a highly stable leading tier. Callao’s consolidation in fourth place adds another element of continuity near the summit.
Below them, however, the competitive field is far more dynamic. Lázaro Cárdenas, Colón CCT, Limón/APM and Rodman PSA have climbed substantially since 2019. Buenaventura has rebounded sharply from its 2023 position. Other established ports have moved in the opposite direction.
The ranking does not prove that LAC port power is being comprehensively redistributed. It shows something more precise: leadership at the top remains remarkably durable, while relative positions below it are much more fluid.
For LAC ’s port sector, that may be the most consequential signal in the 2024 data.
