city, northwestern Honduras, on the Ulúa River southeast of San Pedro Sula. The city, founded in 1927 as a banana trade centre, grew in the 1970s into a commercial and transshipment centre for the Caribbean ports and the interior. Industries include cement products, metalware, shoes, and coffee processing. The city is linked by rail to Puerto Cortés and is a hub for highways leading to San Pedro Sula, Tela, Yoro, and the Inter-Oceanic Highway; it also has an airfield. A steamship line operating on the Ulúa provides access to the Caribbean. Pop. (2001) 90,475.