Manzanillo Gateway Brief

The port

First among the big three

Mexico has 13 deep-sea ports. Three carry most of the containers: Manzanillo, Lázaro Cárdenas and Veracruz. Manzanillo moved more than any other in 2025.

Public sources, not session documents

Containers by port, 2025

TEU. Tap a bar for national share and year-over-year change.

National total: 9,529,886 TEU (+1.6%). "Other" is derived from the coastal totals. Source: SEMAR via T21.

Pacific versus Gulf

Three of every four Mexican containers cross a Pacific quay. Manzanillo handled 54.6% of the Pacific total (Jan–Oct 2025).

Who runs the terminals

2025 TEU by container terminal. Port authority: ASIPONA Manzanillo, under the Navy Ministry (SEMAR). Source: ASIPONA Manzanillo.

The corridor

Asia to central Mexico, then north

Manzanillo is Mexico's principal trade route to Asia across the Pacific and the main entrance for imports bound for the center of the country. The United States leads its export destinations.

Public sources

What the sources do not quantify. No source consulted publishes what share of Asian cargo entering Manzanillo ends up in goods that cross into the United States. That figure should be requested from the authority before it is presented as a number.

Why inspection matters here. Press reporting describes Manzanillo as Mexico's only Pacific port authorized to receive chemical precursors, and the expansion plan includes detection technology. The NSIIS proposal sets an objective of expanding coverage toward 100% of maritime, rail and road cargo.

The expansion

Nuevo Puerto: four times the footprint

The federal government launched the expansion into Basin II of the Cuyutlán Lagoon in November 2024, targeting completion in 2030. SEMAR oversees the project.

Public sources

Footprint

450hectares

Dashed outline: 1,800 ha. Areas to scale.

Annual capacity

3.7MTEU

010M TEU

Reported 2023 capacity: 3.7M TEU. Actual 2025 throughput: 3.89M TEU.

World ranking

#53reported current position

Stated goal: world top 15 and first in Latin America.

Who funds the expansion

Billions of pesos, 2024–2030. Total near MX$64B (about US$3B; reports range from 2.7 to 3.15). Projected jobs: 11,132 direct and 28,626 indirect.

Phase 1: two container terminals with more than 1,500 m of quay, a new rail-connected customs facility, expanded container yards and mineral bulk terminals.
Full plan as reported: four container terminals, hydrocarbon piers and road and rail upgrades.

What the territory demands

Session documents Tap each zone. Schematic, not to scale.

October 15, 2026

The first table

Auditorium H2, Department of Geography and Territorial Planning, University of Guadalajara. The documents describe it as a working session, not a summit.

Session documents

Planned program

Purpose of the session

Three pillars, one agenda

The players

Who sits at the table

Names and roles reproduced from the session documents. This is expected participation, not attendance confirmation.

Government and port-operator officials: none named. The documents list no official from ASIPONA Manzanillo, SEMAR, ANAM or the terminals as an attendee. They call for connecting "public, logistics and industrial stakeholders" and assessing interfaces with checkpoints, customs and ANAM/VUCEM processes. Before October 15, confirm with PUAID who represents the authority.

For context, from the public record. ASIPONA Manzanillo reports Eng. José Ignacio Moreno Díaz as its director; SEMAR oversees the expansion; SSA Marine México, Contecon, Timsa and Ocupa run the container terminals. None appears as a participant in the documents.

The proposal

Detecting is not deciding

IGRIS detects. NSIIS organizes the infrastructure. Authorities decide. EVRESA proposes connecting each relevant result to applicable policy, the competent authority and a verifiable record.

Session documents · Concept proposal

Where each layer fits

The gap EVRESA proposes to close

Proposed control model

One alert, an authorized response

Illustrative walk-through of the workflow in the proposal. Receipt values are placeholders, not real data.

Integrated action requested

Official's authorization

—

Decision receipt: proposed contents

Supplier indicators: what to validate

IGRIS supplier figures. Do not present as a guarantee or certified accuracy. Actual scope depends on system design, capacity and validation results.

The path

Evidence before expansion

The proposed next decision is to authorize an integration assessment, not a national rollout.

Manzanillo