Mexico and Guatemala are looking to carry out a pilot route in maritime transport, for which they have advanced bilateral talks.

In December 2018, the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that it will develop «marine highways» in Mexico; but so far there have been no substantial changes to that objective.

Regarding Short Sea Shipping (SSS), during September 2021, March and May 2022, the government of Mexico resumed talks with the government of Guatemala to reactivate the pilot route between Puerto Chiapas, Mexico, and Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.

Also, within the framework of the triangular cooperation between Mexico-Japan–Central America, from February 21 to March 11, 2022, the Third Regional Course for the Development of Logistics and Transportation Management Capacities for the Economic Integration of Central America: Multimodality, Facilitation and Financing of Transportation Projects was held, with the participation of some 60 officials from the region.

In general, the concept of «maritime highways» implies the development of more cabotage services and short sea shipping services for high sea services.

The reasons for this change are the limited size and dimensions of trucking, which requires a greater number of trips and maintenance costs of the trunk network, while trucking entails more safety problems and higher fuel and pollution costs.

Maritime transport

The Regional Technical Transport Commission (CTRT) met on four occasions (September and November 2021 and January and March 2022) to analyze, review, discuss and validate the Mesoamerican Transport, Mobility and Logistics Agenda (AMTML) and the Regional Action Plan for Public and Private Actors for the Implementation of Short Distance Maritime Transport in Mesoamerica (PAR TMCD), which were approved in April 2022, through a virtual meeting of Mesoamerican Ministers of Transport.