The Port of Guaymas, Sonora is located in the northwest of the Pacific coast of Mexico, 258 miles from the nearest border crossing point in Nogales, Arizona. The Port has unused capacity which could allow for fast and efficient vessel turnaround since the port does not experience the congestion of larger, regularly scheduled ports of call. Thus, there is the potential for a smooth flow of inbound and outbound materials through the Port’s docks.

This ease of flow could be very attractive to shippers located in Sonora, Arizona and other states that have been identified as within the area of influence of the Port of Guaymas. Of particular importance is the notion of using the Port of Guaymas as a relief port for the congested ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

The success of the Port of Guaymas is dependant on its capacity for providing reliable, consistent service to and from the United States market. A critical link between Guaymas and the United States is the Guaymas-Tucson corridor, and the capabilities of that link have to be assured. To accomplish this objective we proposed a two-phase study of the corridor. In the present first phase, we will perform a quick operational assessment of the current capability of the Guaymas-Tucson corridor. In this phase of the analysis our attention will be on assessing the capacity of the corridor in terms of TEU’s the corridor can currently handle. As part of this first phase we will provide preliminary recommendations for future investments, by identifying current and potential bottlenecks of the corridor, the projects required for solving those bottlenecks and the priority of those projects based on the overall benefits for the corridor.

In this phase we will also make an inventory and summarize the available relevant studies that have been performed on the corridor. In the second phase we will expand the study to include prescriptive recommendations in terms of logistics practices and security practices for the port, which will allow it to become globally competitive. In this second phase, we will also identify how Guaymas can serve as a strategic point of collaboration between Arizona and Sonora. The benefits of this collaboration might include an increase in the competitiveness of the corridor and attracting higher added value operations to the region.

• Omar Ahumada
• Gerardo Treviño
• Octavio Sanchez