Altamira is a municipality

Municipalities of Mexico

Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, making the average municipality population 45,616...

 and city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...

. It is located immediately to the north of the municipalities of Tampico

Tampico

Tampico is a city and port in the state of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, directly north across the border from Veracruz. Tampico is the third largest city in Tamaulipas, and counts with a population of 309,003. The Metropolitan area of...

 and Ciudad Madero

Ciudad Madero

Madero, formally Ciudad Madero, is a city and its coextensive municipality in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. The city is located at 22.27°N, 97.83°W in the extreme southeastern part of the state, on the Gulf of Mexico, just north and east of Tampico but still on the banks of the Río Pánuco, and...

, at the southern tip of the state of Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...

, on the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

. Additionally, it borders the municipalities of González

González, Tamaulipas

-External links:* Official website...

 on the west and Aldama

Aldama, Tamaulipas

Aldama is a municipality of the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It was founded on April 26, 1790 under the name of Villa de Presa del Rey.-Geography:...

 on the north, as well as Pánuco

Pánuco, Veracruz

Pánuco is a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz, located in the state's Huasteca Alta region. It serves as the municipal seat of the surrounding Pánuco Municipality...

 in the state of Veracruz

Veracruz

Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...

 on the southeast. Altamira can also refer to the city, founded in 1749, that is its municipal seat and second-largest community. The municipality is primarily made up of the cities of Miramar

Miramar, Tamaulipas

Miramar is a city near the southeastern tip of the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico. It is the largest city in the municipality of Altamira and a suburb of Tampico. The city had a 2010 census population of 118,614, the seventh-largest community in the state, having passed Río Bravo since the previous...

 and Altamira, in addition to many smaller outlying towns such as Cuauhtémoc. The municipality has a total area of 1,666.53 km² (643.45 sq mi).

According to the INEGI 2005 census, the municipality has a population of 162,628 people and is the industrial and port centre for the region - although the Tampico docks on the Pánuco River

Pánuco River

The Pánuco River is a river in Mexico that flows from the River Moctezuma in the Valley of Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico.At its source, it serves as a channel for water-drainage for Mexico City. From there, it becomes the state border between Hidalgo and Querétaro as it moves towards San Luis...

 are still in use for loose cargo, the Port of Altamira handles all the containerised cargos. The community of Miramar had a population of 82,079 and the community of Altamira had a population of 58,896.

There is also a large industrial sector, mainly involved in petro-chemicals, that provides much employment and tax revenue, foreign companies such as DuPont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

, SABIC

SABIC

SABIC is a diversified manufacturing company, active in chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia as listed in Tadawul, but the Saudi government still owns 70% of its shares...

, BASF

BASF

BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...

, POSCO

POSCO

POSCO is a multinational steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It is the world's third-largest steelmaker by market value and the most profitable Asia-based steelmaker....

, etc. The state is trying to encourage construction of a new oil refinery for further integration.