Port of Manzanillo, between excessive inspection and hidden customs costs

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, GTO.- Captain Rodolfo Torres Chávez, head of the Manzanillo customs office , attended the ASTOM Summit 2025 to speak about the strengths and weaknesses of Mexico’s most important port to representatives of port terminals, freight forwarders, operators and shipping companies, delivering a speech full of figures, warnings and future projects . But beyond the technical rhetoric, he revealed a paradox that directly affects foreign trade: in Manzanillo, the costs of inefficiency are being paid by the just for the sinners.

Torres, who took office in May of this year, acknowledged what he had loudly denied for years: customs has a historical corruption problem . “Yes, we accept that there are opaque acts (…) there has been a high level of corruption in customs,” he confessed. His arrival in office, he said, sought to break with that modus operandi , but the solutions he has imposed have not been without consequences.

The strict inspection policy currently in place in Manzanillo responds to the detection of abusive practices such as the undervaluation of merchandise. “We have found severely undervalued containers,” he said. The result: more detained containers, more alerts, and more paperwork that clogs up the yards.

Added to this equation is a statistic that illustrates the magnitude of the problem: up to 300 units are subject to customs inspection every day , a disproportionate burden on the available infrastructure and the few inspectors on duty. The immediate effect is the saturation of yards and esplanades, where carriers must wait hours—if not days—for their goods to be inspected.

However, the measure indiscriminately affects all users. Compliant companies have had to face delays, extraordinary costs, and operating losses. As the captain himself acknowledged, “the innocent pay for the guilty ,” since the collective sanctions do not distinguish between tax evaders and those who fully comply with the tax authorities.

What he didn’t say: the blockades of the customs office itself

In his presentation, Torres gave a detailed account of the lack of synchronization between importers, customs agents, and shipping companies. He criticized the fact that most companies concentrate their operations from Thursday to Saturday and neglect the first days of the week.

But his speech lacked a key element : the damage was not always caused by private individuals, but by customs employees themselves, who in May of this year blocked access to the port, completely paralyzing the logistical operation.

Thousands of containers and other cargo piled up, carriers had to wait days, and companies assumed additional costs for storage, shipping delays, and contractual penalties. The ship’s captain barely mentioned this incident, which exposed the port’s fragility, as if the bottlenecks were solely the responsibility of users.

Added to this is another factor that Torres barely mentioned: the staffing crisis within customs. Before the protests, the department had 349 employees , but 110 were dismissed. Today, the department is seeking to fill 185 new positions and has only managed to fill 60.

The figure is even more revealing in daily operations: customs has only 15 inspectors to handle 300 units in red each day . With that equation, delays are inevitable. The bottleneck, more than in private customs, is within the institution itself.

On the other hand, the ship’s captain did not mention whether there is any judicial follow-up regarding the alleged acts of corruption committed by the personnel (foreign trade officers) who were removed from their positions.

Container abandonment

The tightening of inspections has also brought with it a worrying phenomenon: the monthly abandonment of between 1,000 and 2,000 containers, many of which correspond to operations with false declarations or undervaluations that fail inspections. The logistical and financial costs are borne by the port and the user community.

Torres himself admitted that, even with fewer transactions—50 to 60,000 compared to the previous 90,000— collections continue to grow 20% compared to last year . But behind this fiscal “success” are saturated yards, merchandise that is never released, and supply chains that are breaking down.

Statistics from Mexico’s National Customs Agency (ANAM) indicate that in the first eight months of 2025, the Manzanillo customs office collected a total of 124,353.04 million pesos , representing a real increase of 10.9% compared to the same period last year. This level of collection places this customs office as the second highest in revenue for the country.

Meanwhile, the number of transactions carried out in the period from January to August 2025 totaled 750,286 (down 3.1% annually), of which 670,386 were import transactions. The total number of customs clearance applications stood at 569,906 (down 2.6% annually), with 506,910 of them related to imports.

Structural congestion

Torres explained that the port infrastructure in Manzanillo has fallen short of the exponential growth in foreign trade. The port’s customs office, he said, can handle up to 100 vehicles per hour , but only has three exit lanes toward the highway and Jalipa.

“The other day the route was stopped for two hours, and we didn’t finish until five in the morning, when it should be finished at nine at night,” he acknowledged.

The numbers are telling: before the crisis, between 80,000 and 90,000 transactions were recorded monthly; now the flow has fallen to 50,000-60,000. Even so, revenue remains 20% higher than last year, something the captain presented as an achievement. “What do you want, quantity or quality?” he questioned, as if tax revenue justified the economic losses suffered by companies whose operations became more expensive due to delays and blockages.

Projects and warnings

The head of customs also spoke about the future. His plans include expanding the areas for vehicles undergoing inspection, creating up to 700 spaces near the Contecon terminal , building four-lane confinement routes toward the highway, and redesigning inspection modules.

He also warned that the new port of Manzanillo ( Laguna de Cuyutlán ) runs the risk of repeating the same mistakes: “We are interested in bringing in more ships, more trailers, more cargo, but we don’t think about how to move them (…) that’s why we have this congestion.”

Shared integrity

Torres concluded with a call for shared responsibility. He pointed out that corruption originates not only among officials, but also among users who seek to evade responsibility.

“Corruption doesn’t start with the public official (…) it starts with the one who incites me to corruption,” he asserted. He demanded that companies invest in technology, innovation, and training to reduce traceability errors, which, according to his calculations, account for 80% of current problems.

The port as a thermometer

The captain’s speech in San Miguel de Allende, during the event organized by the Manzanillo Terminals and Operators Association (ASTOM) , made it clear that the port of Manzanillo remains a benchmark for Mexican competitiveness . With more than 20,000 companies operating there and 700,000 annual requests, this is inevitable. But the dilemma remains: while inspections are tightened and record collection figures remain, the port is burdened with a shadow that never clears.

The logistics community hasn’t forgotten that the blockades by customs workers paralyzed the operation and caused millions in losses. Nor has it forgotten that today, thanks to a few evaders, the innocent are paying for the guilty .

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