# Montevideo (UY MVD)

**UN/LOCODE:** UY MVD  
**Country:** Uruguay  
**Water Body:** South Atlantic Ocean  
**Harbor Size:** Medium  
**Harbor Type:** Coastal (Breakwater)  
**GPS:** -34.9000, -56.2167

Katoen Natie of Belgium holds roughly 80% of Terminal Cuenca del Plata (TCP), the operator that handles about 73.5% of the containers at Montevideo (UY MVD), Uruguay's principal container port on the River Plate, with the national ports authority ANP as minority partner. Volumes have swung sharply: the port passed 1.12 million TEU in 2023, then fell back in 2025 to an estimated 850,000 TEU as carriers omitted calls and transhipment moved elsewhere. Traffic is recovering in 2026 — ANP-managed ports moved 376,109 TEU between January and May, up 9% year on year. TCP offers two Super-Post-Panamax berths, a 638-metre quay wall and seven ship-to-shore cranes, four of which can work vessels of up to 18,000 TEU. Its roughly USD 455 million expansion has slipped, with the first phase now due at the end of 2027, and the operator has cut its own forecasts to around 904,000 TEU for 2026. Beyond boxes, the quays move Uruguay's staple exports — beef, wool, soybeans, rice, dairy and cellulose — much of it reefer and bulk cargo. Free-port status allows goods to be stored and handled without customs duties, which underpins Montevideo's role as a transit point for landlocked Paraguay and Bolivia, served inland by road and the Paraná–Paraguay barge waterway. Shippers looking for more capacity or steadier schedules compare Buenos Aires across the estuary and Rio Grande in southern Brazil.

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*Freight Academy — Seaport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/seaports/montevideo-port-uy-mvd](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/seaports/montevideo-port-uy-mvd)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/seaports/en/montevideo-port-uy-mvd](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/seaports/en/montevideo-port-uy-mvd)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/seaports/montevideo-port-uy-mvd/llm-summary?lang=en*