ARIZONA & MEXICO

RAIL ISSUES AND THE PORT OF GUAYMAS
As noted above Mexico 15 provides fairly good connections from Sinaloa and Sonora through to
Guaymas, 7 and there are plans to improve travel times by building bypasses around major cities on the
way to the border. But if Arizona is to benefit from the possible container traffic into Guaymas (see
comments below) good rail connections are mandatory. At present there are reasonably good tracks
from close to Guaymas through the Hermosillo area and on into the DeConcini crossing at the border.
Other studies have established the capability of this track to handle “double stack” unit trains, and the
Ford operations in the Hermosillo area already make extensive use of rail connections to the border.
However, the Ferromex site does not list fresh produce (e.g. from Sinaloa) among the agricultural goods
it carries.
Figure 2: Mexico Rail Network in 2013
Source: Barton-Aschman & La Empresa, 1997
The most recent Pima County Economic Development Report notes that once funding is secured,
significant investments will be made at the Port of Guaymas in two phases. First, dredging will be
instituted so that larger bulk ships can call on the port. As bulk commodities are the foundation of the
port’s operation this should lead to additional business. Then investments will be made in an attempt
to attract scheduled container service. Some years ago it was determined that 400 containers per week
inbound would be necessary for a shipping line to justify calling on Guaymas. It is still not certain that
demand from the state of Sonora and the state of Arizona together is enough to offset the inherent
geographic advantages of LA/Long Beach vs. Guaymas as an entry point. The continued increase in main
line container vessel size makes this possibility somewhat less likely.
7
We should note that the military checkpoint at Benjamin Hill continues to be a periodic bottleneck on Mexico 15 for both
private vehicles and commercial trucks.
37 • ARIZONA & MEXICO • ARIZONA TOWN HALL • APRIL 2016