Conflict in Manzanillo: Regulatory Yard trial generates contradictory instructions

Tractor-trailers waiting to enter the port of Manzanillo occupy space on roads that must also absorb city traffic. To reduce this pressure, the National Port System Administration (Asipona) Manzanillo and trucking organizations prepared a trial that would concentrate units in the Land Regulation Center (CRT) and dose their departure towards Contecon Manzanillo, the operator of Container Specialized Terminal (TEC) II. The project had been weeks in the making, but its public announcement opened a difference on who should communicate the change and when it would be applicable.

The immediate consequence fell on the truckers. On September 23, the Manzanillo Port Community (Copoma) informed them that the next day they should go through the CRT before attending certain appointments at Contecon. Hours later, the terminal asked them to maintain their usual entry procedure. For a trucking company, deciding which instruction to follow meant risking the schedule of its unit and, with it, the programming of the cargo and its delivery.

The origin of the trial is in a minute of the Copoma–Asipona–truckers meeting on September 3, obtained by T21. Isaí Martínez, representative of Asipona Manzanillo, pointed out during the meeting that the strategy had been in preparation for more than a month and that the trucking chambers had proposed starting with Contecon. Representatives of the City Council, Copoma, Conatram, UTCM, UETLM, and the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation (Canacar) also participated. Contecon is not listed among the registered attendees, so the minute does not prove that the terminal approved the scheme at that meeting.

Martínez explained that for the new CRT project (located at kilometer 3.5 of the Manzanillo-Minatitlán highway), an adjacent space previously occupied by TIMSA —which also operates a multi-purpose terminal in the port— would also be used to concentrate trucks and regulate how many advanced towards the port area. He also indicated that as of December, additional areas could be released and that, if the trial yielded results, its application in other terminals would be evaluated. Héctor Venancio, general director of Copoma, linked the proposal to the need to reduce the presence of units on municipal roads and increase their rotation.

The choice of Contecon as a starting point also places the trial in one of the port's highest volume operations. According to official figures accumulated by terminal from January to August 2026, Manzanillo mobilized 2,824,836 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), compared to 2,544,369 in the same period of 2025, an 11 percent growth. Contecon handled 1,186,477 TEU, 20.2% more than the 987,017 of the previous year. Its operation represented 42% of the port's total container volume in those eight months. This participation allows us to dimension the potential scope of a trial aimed at its accesses, although the TEU mobilized do not equate to the number of tractor-trailers that would use the CRT.

The meeting also defined how the first stage would work. It was proposed to attend Contecon import appointments from 4:00 p.m., mainly on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Units would arrive at the CRT approximately two hours before their appointment and would leave about an hour before in convoy towards the second access of the terminal, provided that traffic conditions allowed it. Participants also discussed how to identify these trucks from the appointment generation or through electronic documentation.

The trial was proposed along with another extension of hours aimed at facilitating the dispatch of goods. According to the same minute, the Manzanillo Customs began to handle imports 24 hours a day on Thursdays and Fridays. Martínez pointed out that this schedule could favor the operation of the CRT: it would allow operations to be distributed over more hours, provided that the flow of trucks to the terminal and accesses could also be coordinated.

The minute records that the attendees unanimously agreed to proceed with the use of the CRT for these operations. Among the agreements were the concentration and dosing of units, adjustments in the Tapeixtles–bypass junction, and the evaluation of the trial before extending it. It was also warned that the availability of road mobility personnel would be limited during the works in Manzanillo.

This specific plan is supported by an facility that already has general rules. The Rules for the use of the Land Regulation Center of the Regulatory Yard, issued weeks ago by Asipona Manzanillo and reviewed by T21, establish that the port administration authorizes, through its Land Traffic Control Center (CCTT), the use of spaces according to vehicle flow and operational needs. They foresee that trucks can be channeled to the CRT when a terminal registers delays, accesses are saturated, or units with appointments for later times arrive. They also indicate that the start of the use of spaces must be reported through authorized official channels.

The rules describe, therefore, for what the CRT can be used and who directs its operation. They do not establish by themselves that Contecon appointments from 4:00 p.m. must go through the yard on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, nor do they set the convoy departure provided for in the minute. The application of this trial required clearly communicating to truckers when it would begin and what the recognized procedure for accessing the terminal would be.

The times and costs of the port cycle explain the importance of avoiding new waits. According to the Average Trucking Time Indicator in Ports (ITPAP) for August, carried out by T21 Business Intelligence, the average time observed in import container operations in Manzanillo decreased from 12 hours, 50 minutes, and 27 seconds in July to 9 hours, 34 minutes, and 30 seconds in August. The same exercise estimated 414.9 million pesos monthly in resources associated with the immobilization of trucking in Manzanillo, considering diesel, operators, and tractor-trailers. The figure does not equate to proven accounting losses, nor does it measure the effect that the CRT trial would have. The ITPAP is prepared with movements shared by GPS and trucking companies, not with all port trips.

The CRT scheme had already been publicly mentioned before September 23. Four days earlier, Yax Tzel Nolasco Gómez, delegate of the National Confederation of Mexican Transporters (Conatram) in Colima and president of the Union of Manzanillo Cargo Transporters (UTCM), declared to Periódico Hechos that trials were being prepared mainly for units destined for Contecon. He pointed out that the yard would be used when saturation made it necessary to regulate entries and that its initial operation would allow adjustments to be identified.

Copoma took the next step on September 23. Through a statement, it announced that from Thursday 24, trucks with appointments from 4:00 p.m. to Contecon should first enter the CRT, arrive two hours before, perform a PIS Check, and leave in convoy one hour before the appointment. The notice added that units that did not follow this procedure "will not be able to enter the enclosure". Although the schedules and route largely correspond to what was discussed on September 3, neither the minute nor the general rules of the CRT expressly establish this consequence for this trial.

Contecon responded that same day. In its "Important notice on the use of the Regulatory Yard," it stated that the scheme disseminated by Copoma "was not coordinated or agreed with our Terminal" and that the association's statement did not constitute a valid operational instruction to change the access of its users. It requested to maintain the current procedure until any modification was reported through the corresponding official channels and, when appropriate, had the support and authorizations of Asipona or the competent authority. The notice appears in the terminal's communications section for trucking companies.

A T21 source with knowledge of the conversations in the port indicates that Contecon personnel participated in other meetings and that their objection was related to the way Copoma, whose president is the general director of Asipona Manzanillo, communicated the measure. This explanation remains attributed to the source: it does not modify the fact that Contecon publicly disavowed the notice nor does it allow us to affirm that it approved the trial recorded in the minute of September 3.

According to a second source close to Contecon's operation, the procedure announced by Copoma was not applied on Thursday 24.

In addition, it is known that a new meeting will be held next Monday, September 28 with all those involved to resolve this situation that has arisen; however, the CRT issue is underway.

Concentrating trucks outside the enclosure could relieve Manzanillo's roads if their departure is coordinated with the actual capacity of the accesses and the terminal. The effect of the trial cannot yet be considered proven. Before measuring it, Asipona and the actors involved will have to specify when the procedure will begin, to which units it will apply, and how a single instruction will be communicated. As long as the uncertainty persists, it is the trucker and the cargo who absorb its immediate consequences: committed equipment time, trips that must be rescheduled, and deliveries whose time ceases to be predictable.