The port of Manzanillo—the largest container port in Mexico—has been struggling with serious congestion throughout 2025 as a result of increased traffic, complicated protests, and structural changes. This week, however, delays at the port reached a new height, with average weight times of 4.42 days for a vessel to enter the port. Data suggests that some vessels have waited as much as 22 days to dock at Manzanillo.

Before delving into the complicated reasons behind this congestion, it is worth noting just how large a role Manzanillo plays in Mexico’s logistics ecosystem. As of May of 2025, the port handled nearly 1.6 million TEUs worth of cargo, equivalent to 41% of all containers handled in the country—as shown in the figure below. The second largest port, Lázaro Cárdenas—used more prominently for other forms of cargo—received just little over one million TEUs in that same period, or 27% of the country’s containerized cargo. 

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In fact, in recent months, Manzanillo has even seen an increase in activity. The figure below plots the number of TEUs handled by Manzanillo with different lines for 2023, 2024, and 2025. As the graph shows, 2025 started with a considerable increase in TEUs for Manzanillo. In January, TEUs handled were up 6.34% compared to 2024. By February, they had grown 45.95% with regards to the previous year.

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The growth however, was soon overshadowed by a spike in imports in March of 2024—not to mention, a steady decline in containers handled in April and May of 2025.

So we can’t attribute the rise in congestion to a mere increase in activity. And many local accounts are attributed as such. The problem is that Manzanillo—already an extremely busy port—has been forced to deal with with a series of destabilizing events since the beginning of the year.

To start, there have been a number of complaints regarding strategic changes from the federal government when it comes to port management. In particular, many have claimed that the current administration is much tougher on ocean cargo with some claiming it takes up to 72 hours to get a container released from customs. While there is no clear answer for why this is the case, it might well be connected to the recent focus on stopping fentanyl trade within Mexico spearheaded by president Claudia Sheinbaum.

This last theory could also be related to a difficult truth about the port of Manzanillo. In a recent statement, the U.S. Treasury department highlighted the presence of drug cartels in Mexico’s largest container port. Specifically, they referenced the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), run by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes known as “El Mencho,” as using the port to traffic synthetic drugs to the U.S. market. Thus, it makes sense that a port heavily targeted by criminal activity would be subject to much closer scrutiny—more so at a time where Mexico attempts to stay in the good graces of the current U.S. administration.

This, in part, would help explain why vessels docking at Manzanillo have fallen since the start of the current presidential administration in December fo 2024. As the figure below shows, starting roughly at the same time as President Sheinbaum took office, the seven day moving average of vessels has dropped from around five a day to much closer to two.

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There is, however, another reason causing these disruptions. Since the start of the year, Manzanillo has had considerable leadership problems. First, on January 16th, Mario Alberto Limas López was named head of the port, a position which he would only hold for four months before being replaced by Rodolfo Torres Chávez on April 15th.

Torres Chavez soon became a topic of controversy amongst port workers. Many accused Torres Chavez of harboring poor labor conditions as well as harassment and abuse. Just one month after this new appointment, port workers took matters into their own hands, launching a three day protest effectively blocking trucks from entering Manzanillo’s facilities. Ocean vessels, however, were not impacted by the protests, meaning containers were being unloaded from vessels but were unable to exit terminal gates.

Protests came to an end on May 15th and, the day after, Torres Chávez was replaced by Mario Alberto Gasque—a member of the Mexican navy. 

Problems, however, remain. Manzanillo has struggled to deal with the backlog of shipments ever since the start of the protests while also dealing with problems related to understaffing. Thus far, it is estimated that the port is operating at just 60% capacity, creating serious delays for users. 

As the figure below shows, wait times at Manzanillo have grown considerably. The week of the protests, they reached a peak of three days before regaining some sense of normalcy—but never falling below over a day's wait. In recent weeks, wait times have skyrocketed to nearly four and a half days to enter the port.

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Recent reporting suggests that Manzanillo has struggled to keep up with the backlog generated by the may protests. Meanwhile, the president of CANACAR, Mexico’s National Chamber of Autotransport, declared on social media that Manzaillo’s warehouses are at capacity taking up to 72 hours to get a container out of the port’s terminal.

The above, piled with the rigor of the current administration’s customs checks, makes for a crisis in Manzanillo. It takes much longer now to process shipments at customs with some also mentioning a considerable rise in the likelihood of a shipment being selected for a detailed inspection—knonw as “red lights” in the logistics community. Then, when a container finally leaves customs, it faces up to three days of wait times to exit the port since warehouses are at capacity and Manzanillo struggles to schedule pick ups. Meanwhile, companies have taken note and, as we mentioned above, are now shifting their routes away from Manzanillo, bringing in fewer ships to the port.

Manzanillo is now in chaos. The question is whether it can be controlled anytime soon or if Mexico’s top container port will continue to struggle in months to come.

Image credits: Puerto de Manzanillo - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68219803