When your ship comes in, it is only the beginning of a complex logistical task of moving goods to the markets where they can be sold. While the Port of Manzanillo's 46-foot deep navigation canal enables virtually every type of ship to dock, it's been the expansion of supporting services around the port that has permitted the rapid growth of the port and contributed to Manzanillo's exceptionally low 1.1 percent unemployment rate.

"Colima is one of the main states of the Mexican Republic and its importance will be much bigger due" to the port, says Miguel A. Hano Diaz Paniagua, chief executive of Operador de la Cuenca del Pacifico (OCUPA), a private company. There will be an "enormous traffic of goods coming from Asia and the West Coast of the United States."

While the port administration has the overall responsibility of ensuring the efficient movement of goods, it is the individual actors in this movement that determine the success or failure of the port as an economic enterprise. Chief among these actors are the customs brokers, shipping agents, importers, exporters and other logistical support enterprises.

"Our main goal is to provide in a very efficient way all those services and operations that goods coming and leaving our facilities require -- such as loading, unloading, stowing, movement, stuffing, unstuffing, storage, labeling, tagging, checking and custody," says an official at OCUPA, which is a company formed by the various professions needed in this process.

OCUPA itself has 42,600 square meters of space to shelter goods, including a 6,000-square meter roofed warehouse. Among the specialized loading equipment is a mobile ground crane capable of handling up to 100 tons of load. The company also has four trastainer cranes for handling containers within its own yard.

GLUCSA del Pacifico is somewhat more specialized, operating as a customs agency not only in Manzanillo, but also in Veracruz (Mexico's main port on the Gulf), the Mexico City airport and Pantaco (a railway station in Mexico City). GLUCSA's contribution to the efficient movement of goods is to handle the complex paperwork required for importing goods. This ranges from calculating the fees and taxes that need to be paid to pre-inspection of goods for several authorities, such as drug, environmental, agricultural and defense authorities.

The agency stays on top of all the new legislation and advises clients on ways to take advantage of any new benefits and to comply with new regulations.

GLUCSA also now has an affiliate company, Servicios Logisticos del Pacifico, to offer its clients a good quality and price in inland freight.

The customs agents are planning and building for rapid growth in the anticipation that volume at the port of Manzanillo will double in the next two years. This is due particularly to growth in Pacific trade as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation promotes trade in the Pacific Basin region and works to reduce trade barriers. Already, Manaznillo handles 80 percent of Mexico's imports from Chile, a fellow member of APEC and also a counter party in a bilateral free trade agreement, and more than 20 percent of the imports from the main Asian economies.

All of those involved in handling cargo are counting on an expansion of trade with Asia, Latin America and Europe to help their companies grow. "I believe that the opportunities are enormous," said Luciano Arredondo Flores, president of the Association of Customs Agents of the Port of Manzanillo. "The important thing is to find that market niche where we can grow the most."

Other free trade agreements in Latin America, notably with Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Bolivia and Nicaragua have also benefited the port of Manzanillo. The North American Free Trade Agreement has also helped Mexican trade in general and the port in particular. Among other things, NAFTA gives Mexican companies access to the most modern technology. It has also given Mexican exporters recourse to international arbitration against U.S. efforts to block specific Mexican products, as it has in the past with avocados, tomatoes, and steel.