Baja California has begun construction preparations for a major port development on the Pacific coast, with authorities targeting 2029 for the start of operations at Punta Colonet, south of Ensenada.
The groundbreaking ceremony was led by Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, alongside Guadalupe Phillips Margain, CEO of Grupo ICA, and María Marisa Abarca Hernández, director general of ports at Mexico’s Navy Secretariat.
The project is being developed as a logistics and industrial hub intended to connect Mexico with major international shipping routes while supporting manufacturing, agriculture, mining and other regional industries.
A port designed to reshape regional logistics
The project comes as companies and governments reassess supply chains and look for logistics networks that offer more reliable access to markets. Ávila Olmeda said Punta Colonet could help Mexico take advantage of that shift by expanding its port infrastructure on the Pacific coast.
According to the governor, the state government worked on planning and permits between 2022 and 2025, before the federal government granted the project a 50-year concession in September 2025.
The full development is expected to require an investment of more than 41 billion Mexican pesos in port, industrial and road infrastructure.
Officials estimate the project could generate approximately 10,500 initial jobs, followed by around 30,000 jobs connected to port operations and related economic activity.
Rail and highway links would connect the port to U.S. markets
Punta Colonet is located about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the U.S. border. Its planned connections are intended to move cargo between the Pacific coast, industrial centers in Mexico and markets across the United States.
The broader logistics plan includes a proposed 300-kilometer Colonet–Mexicali rail corridor, as well as an intermodal connection serving California and Texas and providing access to 15 states in the southern and eastern United States.
The development also includes a planned 12-kilometer access road to the port. Additional road projects are expected to support future phases, including a 65-kilometer San Jacinto–Lázaro Cárdenas stretch and modernization of the 70-kilometer Lázaro Cárdenas–El Chinero route.
The port is also expected to complement other infrastructure projects, including the planned Otay Mesa East border crossing, known in Mexico as Otay II, and efforts to expand air cargo capacity in Tijuana, Mexicali and Ojos Negros.
Officials project growth in Pacific exports
Studies cited by the governor estimate that Punta Colonet could help increase exports moving through the Pacific by more than 35%.
The proposed port would serve several sectors, including export manufacturing, agriculture, fishing, mining and energy. Ávila Olmeda said the project is envisioned as more than a shipping terminal, with plans for a surrounding port city and industrial-logistics zone.
The governor also acknowledged the support of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexico’s Navy Secretariat, which is led by Secretary of the Navy Raymundo Pedro Morales.
With operations targeted for 2029, Punta Colonet is being positioned as a long-term infrastructure project that could change how goods move through Baja California and connect the state’s industries with markets across the Pacific and the United States.
