Port Of Manzanillo
This post was originally posted over on Perla Del Mar's blog, the writers recently got to tour the port facilities and see up close how one of the largest ports in Mexico works. I thought all of our readers would greatly appreciate this highly informative article:
A Tour Of Manzanillo's Port
The port of Manzanillo moves the most tonnage of any port in Mexico. It moved 600,000 containers last year and has a current capacity to move 1,000,000. Of course the numbers are down slightly this year, but still there is a major expansion underway to facilitate future demand. The whole port was very orderly, clean, and appeared to be very efficient. Containers come and go, it seems, effortlessly in some sort of perfect order controlled by probably well programmed computers.
Thousands of containers are stacked in long rows and while they constantly flow overhead on huge moving computer controlled cranes, there is little evidence of human activity. Some containers were being opened and manually inspected in a secure area viewed by 40 some security cameras, and where apparently the occasional cargo is not what the shipping documents claim. We were told of specific containers filled with grain and meats from Alberta, refrigerated containers with foods from all over the world, and even containers of household goods that belong to people who are moving to Mexico. Huge steel rolls arrive to be shipped to car factories in Mexico, and goods and raw materials of all sorts are received and shipped, bound for national and international destinations.
Because of labor issues and higher costs in the USA and Canada, traffic at this port continues to increase as do shipments to and from Manzanillo by rail. There is a plan for a super-corridor stretching from Manzanillo, all the way to Churchill Manitoba. Of course there is major resistance from longshoremen in the USA and Can. as lower cost Mx. labour will affect them. http://www.nowpublic.com/nasco_highway_route
While the port is a major stabilizer to Manzanillo's economy and a major employer, the evidence here of all this commerce is simply the arrival and departure of ships, mostly we're told from Pacific Rim countries; and rail and truck traffic in and out of the port area. Because the port is located at the south edge of the city, and behind the beach and the populated areas in what used to be a lagoon, it has little physical impact on those living here. Last year the main highway behind the city was updated, allowing traffic to miss Manzanillo proper and actually reducing traffic within. Inside we seldom see a truck anymore, and most people who visit Manzanillo on vacation could leave without knowing, were they not told, that there was a major port here. Because nearly all the world's freight is now contained, port operations are orderly, safe, clean, quiet, efficient, and very technical.
It's a fact that Mexico is attracting mining companies from all over the world, but especially from China, Canada, and Korea. Some friendly Chinese we met at Mx. immigration told us that Mexico is somewhat unique in the world in that to date very few of it's minerals have been exploited. These Chinese told us that they were here in an advance roll for their company to prepare for the arrival of their geologists and engineers who will identify and develop what they believe are large additional deposits of iron ore.
In addition, a Dutch company is involved in a dredging project designed to expand the existing port and then build the new LNG terminal, about 8 km. south of the city. This south port will accept LNG (liquefied natural gas), re-gasify it and then transfer it via newly constructed pipelines to many parts of Central Mexico and Central America. The LNG plant is being built by a consortium of Korean and Japanese companies.
All of this activity has served to keep Manzanillo somewhat insulated from the current economic woes that impact the rest of the world. Additionally, Manzanillo has had little property inflation when compared with resort towns like PV, Mazatlan, Cabo, Cancun, etc., so while sales have slowed here, the prices are stable.
*Note- We did write a post a little while ago about the Manzanillo Port Expansion going on. This post expands very nicely on what is going on in Manzanillo.
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Blurs the line between information and advertising. If they haven’t seen truck traffic then they haven’t been south of the Las Brisas Glorieta. Just my opinion.
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