Finally. After just over three weeks of chaos at the port of Manzanillo, Mexico’s National Customs Agency (ANAM) held a meeting with the business and logistics sectors to present the work carried out to resolve the operational problem that arose at the country’s main maritime hub in the Pacific, following protests by customs workers themselves.

According to information shared with T21 by various members of the meeting—held on June 2—it was indicated that ANAM, led by Rafael Marín Mollinedo , has provided personnel from central areas (deputy directors, directors, and department heads) to assist with customs inspections in Manzanillo.

Workers at the Manzanillo customs office demonstrated twice in mid-May, paralyzing the entry and exit of transport vehicles from the port in protest of poor working conditions and unjustified dismissals since Captain Rodolfo Torres Chávez took over the customs office a month earlier.

Just over four thousand units enter the port of Manzanillo daily, so the protests caused significant delays in the import and export of goods .

It wasn’t until Wednesday, June 4th that SSA Marine Mexico‘s specialized container terminal was able to breathe. “Operations are back to normal. Therefore, we have resumed the usual number of available appointments,” the American company stated in a statement to its customers.

At the meeting held by ANAM with the business leaders, it was also noted that measures have been implemented to improve the port’s operations. For example, access codes to the customs inspection system are being resolved for verification personnel ; merchandise clearances under consultation status are being released more quickly; efforts are being made to make better use of appointment times for Mondays and Tuesdays of each week; and appointments are being fully capacitated at the inspected facilities.

Likewise, the open-door option for empty vehicles will remain in place , and operations will be carried out with ZBV scanning, a vehicle cargo inspection unit, and the modulation schedule will continue from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. upon departure from the controlled areas.

In addition, ANAM agreed to provide an organizational chart to show how the different areas of the Manzanillo customs office were integrated.

In addition to Rafael Marín Mollinedo, the meeting was attended by representatives of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin) , the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (Comce) , the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation (Canacar) and the Confederation of Associations of Customs Agents of the Mexican Republic (Caaarem) .

A couple of days before the meeting, Canacar itself, through its president Miguel Ángel Martínez, had stated that the sector was on the verge of bankruptcy due to non-payments to leasing companies, insurance companies, suppliers, and staff.

Based on statistics from the General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine (CGPMM) , an office of the Ministry of the Navy , in the accumulated January-April 2025, a total of one million 291 thousand 720 containers (TEU) have been operated in the port of Manzanillo , a growth of just 1.5% compared to the same period in 2024, and we will have to wait for the results of May with these situations that have been faced.

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The National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM) reported that 12 million 955 thousand 135 foreign trade operations were carried out in the 50 Mexican internal, maritime and border customs offices , and that the cash flow collection was 661 thousand 347.9 million pesos (mdp) , from January to July 2024.

According to information from the General Directorate of Customs Planning, maritime customs collected 49.3% of the total flow, followed by border customs with 33.8% participation and inland customs with 16.9% in said period.

He explained that 12 million 955 thousand 135 foreign trade operations were carried out, of which two million 568 thousand 820 were registered in the 12 internal customs of the country , a figure that represented an increase of 5.4% compared to the same period, but in 2023.

In the first seven months of the year, the customs offices of Guadalajara, Jalisco; Monterrey, Nuevo León, and the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), led this category by concentrating 52.6% of the operations , but not the collection.

During this period, he stressed that, of the total foreign trade operations, 1,634,418 were carried out in the 17 maritime customs offices , which meant an increase of 8.3% compared to the same period last year. The ports of Manzanillo, Colima; Veracruz, Veracruz; Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán and Altamira, Tamaulipas, accounted for 85.5% of the operations.

Meanwhile, 8,751,897 foreign trade operations were registered in 21 Mexican border customs offices during January-July 2024, which represented an increase of 2.2% over the same period in 2023. The customs offices of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas; Tijuana, Baja California; and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua concentrated 60.4% of the total operations.

These figures are relevant in the context that customs control the flow of goods entering and leaving the country, and because they are responsible for collecting revenue related to foreign trade operations.

According to ANAM, the revenue from foreign trade operations carried out by Mexican customs during 2023 amounted to  one trillion 151 thousand 128 million pesos .

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