Puerto de Guaymas

Connectivity in Northern Mexico for International Trade Routes

Puerto de Guaymas is located in the northern port of Mexico on the coasts of the Pacifi c Ocean in the State of Sonora.

Because of its privileged geographic location Puerto de Guaymas represents a competitive advantage for the movement of all type of goods within the logistics chain contributing to the sustained development and the growth of Mexico´s exterior commerce. Jose Luis Castro is the Director of Puerto de Guaymas. He explains it this way: "Guaymas is 400 kilometers from the border with the U.S. It´s the natural port for Arizona and one of the best logistic options for the southern region of the U.S. We have a lot of experience handling bulk minerals and grains and now we are starting to move containers. 
Among the services we offer are the export/import of goods and commodities like minerals, containers, grains, general cargo, vehicles and fluids."

Guillermo VonBorstel is the Puerto de Guaymas Marketing Manager. The Port System handles a wide range of export and import products going to and arriving from Europe, Asia, Africa and other countries in America. We specialize in containers, chemicals and petrochemicals, steel, automobiles, agricultural and mineral bulk, salt, sulfur, and other products. Mr.VonBorstel mentioned other products handled by Puerto de Guaymas: "Among them are iron ore, copper concentrate, fertilizer, cement, pet coke, containers, wheat, corn, heavy equipment and many more." 

With the Multimodal Corridors Guaymas-Arizona and Guaymas- Mexicali, Puerto Guaymas iswellconnected to markets in the northwest of Mexico and the Southeastern portion of the U.S. Puerto de Guaymas is sheltered by an inside bay and with the region´s rainfall and minimum tidal variation make this port one of the safest in the Pacific. The port is 1.1 miles away from the Federal fourlane highway No.15 and forms part of the "CANAMEX" Corridor located only 400 km (248.55 miles) away. According to Mr. VonBorstel, the connectivity of the Puerto de Guaymas is its major strength and attraction: "We are directly connected with the "CANAMEX Corridor, he said, "and the multimodal corridors "Guaymas- Arizona and Guaymas- Mexicali." He added that they operate with several logistic partners through these corri-dors, such as the Ferromex and Union Pacific."

The inland area influenced by Puerto de Guaymas because of its location, gives it the character of functioning as a regional port to which access by sea to international trade routes is done via the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Cortez. 
The Influence zone which currently serves the port is represented by the states of Sonora, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Sinaloa and the south of the U.S.

Because of its location, Puerto de Guaymas has maintained the character of a regional port, as mentioned, for national and international maritime access to the Pacific and Sea of Cortez. 

The Port has a specialized facility for handling grains featuring a capacity of 68,000 tons for storage and a row of 72 silos. There is a railroad scale for weighing auto-transport and also a specialized laboratory. The management of the Port comes with significant experience in exporting and importing products. Their purpose is to maintain the required productivity of every client and there is a specialized team for handling containers inside the patios and during theirloading and unloading. There is also a specialized team to simultaneously operate up to six ships. 

The Port of Guaymas has the capacity of a large maritime Terminal facility with all the services needed. Clients are offered productivity that is guaranteed independently of the conditions of the equipment on the vessels themselves. The Port renders quality services in handling all goods, as well as having the necessary infrastructure for fast, effectiveand efficient mobilization. 

It also offers quality standards and protection codes for vessels and port facilities with the ISPS Certification. All this is issued under the General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine, as well as holding the ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and Clean Industry Certifications.


Guillermo VonBorstel summarizes by explaining that Puerto de Guaymas recently finished important improvements on their installations and equipment. "We just completed the dredging of the port," he explained, "so we could reach 45 feet of draft. This depth lets us load vessels of 100,000 tons whether mineral and/or other cargo. We just opened an area for a Truck Center inside the Logistics Trade Zone that we own in Empalme, Sonora. This LTD is an area of 88 hectares, located about five miles from the port where we warehouse and then send the cargo going to and coming from Guaymas."

"In 2011 we just reached the 6 million tons mark in total cargo. This year we are going to grow to eight million tons per year," added Von- Borstel.