孙凯 Mexico Practice
MEXICO PRACTICE · 2014 — 2026

Mexico,
Twelve years.
From the port
to the site gate.

In 2014 the first 280-tonne gas turbine came ashore at Veracruz and went up the mountain into Puebla. Twelve years on, 46 BMW containers are still running from Shanghai to Manzanillo. What I have done on this lane is clearance, oversize haulage, bonded storage — and that last kilometre into the depot.

See clients & projects Six case studies
Shanghai → Manzanillo · 15–20 days across the Pacific · −14 h
01 — Clients & projects

Who hands me the cargo.

Grouped by industry. Entries marked "via" came through forwarders and logistics providers; the rest are direct appointments or the main project contract. In brackets, what the work actually was on this lane.

A

Rail

3 projects · 95 cars
  • CRRC Monterrey Metro Line 1 · 44 cars, four batches 8/24/8/4 2020–2021
  • CRRC via COSCO Shipping Logistics Mexico City Metro Line 1 · 9 cars per train, dual path: complete cars by RO-RO plus dismantled breakbulk 2022
  • CRRC via COSCO Shipping Logistics Monterrey light rail Lines 4&5 · 42 monorail cars, 882 t / 7,688 m³ plan 2023
B

Energy & power

6 projects · incl. a 280-tonne single piece
  • CEE · China Electric Power Equipment Mexico gas turbine project · 280 t turbine / 260 t generator, modular trailer + 3 escorts 2014
  • CEE · China Electric Power Equipment Mexico transmission project · route surveys, Veracruz–Yautepec and Salina Cruz–Ixtepec 2014–2015
  • CHINT via China Merchants Logistics Transformers 80 / 135 / 152 / 160 t · Altamira → Dolores, Cd. Acuña, Magdalena 2018
  • CHINT Package substation SFZ-55000/132 · solar project scope 2019
  • SANY Mobile cranes to Mexico · oversize dimensions and lifting plan 2021
  • Envision via DHL Wind towers, blades, nacelle frames · return from Progreso 2019
C

Automotive & manufacturing

10 clients · 10 project lines
  • BMW via Wuxi Sumisho / COSCO Shipping Logistics Mexico supply chain · 7 sailings and 46×40'HC in 2025, Shanghai → Manzanillo door to door 2024–2025
  • Audi via COSCO Shipping Logistics Audi Mexico parts · booking instructions and stowage, San José Chiapa direction 2024
  • GAC Motor via COSCO Shipping Logistics Finished vehicles to Mexico · RO-RO versus container comparison 2023
  • FOTON Vehicle import bonded warehouse · IMMEX modelling, 18 m coaches and pickups 2025
  • Sanhua Mexico plant containers · Taiwan → Manzanillo, multiple lots of 20'DG and 40'HQ 2016–2024
  • BOE via COSCO Shipping Logistics Display panels · dual ports Ensenada / Manzanillo, SOP and surcharge audit 2018–2020
  • Sony Mexico via COSCO Shipping Logistics Manzanillo–Reynosa and Ensenada port cost models 2019
  • P&G via Taicang Penavico Mexico household goods · container type and routing mix 2019
  • Diageo via COSCO Logistics Nantong Whisky blending tanks · 18.4 t each, EXW → DAP site 2023
  • Wuxi Sumisho Direct client LCL · 5 containers to Mexico, plus work alongside the BMW project 2024
D

Mining & bulk

5 clients · cargo both ways
  • COSCO Logistics Nanjing Copper concentrate EXW export · Manzanillo → Qingdao, AHK inspection + CFDI, 2×20'GP cycling 2025–2026
  • Nanjing Bituolihe Copper concentrate · logistics services contract, signed December 2025 2025
  • Zhejiang Sanrun Mexican iron ore import · 65×20'GP lump ore, Yantai discharge and cost reconciliation 2019–2021
  • COSCO Logistics Xiamen Mexican antimony concentrate · quote breakdown and import costs 2023
  • CNOOD Mexico mining project · equipment and consumables 2022
E

Petrochemical & EPC

3 projects · incl. Dos Bocas
  • Pemex · Dos Bocas refinery Ex Hyosung, Korea · 5 module batches, Butamer / Penex / Deisobutanizer 2021–2022
  • LNG Mexico via COSCO Shipping Logistics Lake Charles → Mexico · pre-assembled modules and breakbulk list 2014
  • Ixtepec, Oaxaca project via COSCO Shipping Logistics Oaxaca power plant · oversize inland haul and clearance 2015
F

Plant & general

4 clients
  • Shanghai Feizhi Supply Chain Construction equipment · 8 units, 538.95 m³ / 99.45 t, DDU to the site at ZIP 79526 2025
  • Zhangjiagang Ocean Shipping Agency via China Merchants Logistics Saltillo transformer project · packing list and inland routing 2018
  • Zhejiang Sanrun Motorcycle parts import bonded warehouse · duty and storage cost model 2021
  • Noatum Logistics Agency network Spain / Mexico destination agents · clearance and inland delivery Long-standing

The list stops at what a packing list, contract or bill of lading can back up. Client names and project years come from my own project files — no quotes that never became orders.

02 — Case studies

Six projects, six ways to go wrong.

Hard by weight, hard by deadline, hard on documents, hard on that last kilometre at destination. Every part of it has a dimension, a tonnage and a date.

01 Heavy lift · oversize 2014

A 280-tonne gas turbine, into the mountains

CEE · Mexico gas turbine project

The turbine itself is 11.0 × 3.8 × 4.8 m, 280 tonnes; the matching generator 13.0 × 4.0 × 4.0 m, 260 tonnes. Both came ashore at Veracruz and had to cross the mountains into a plant in Puebla.

It went on a 9-axle modular hydraulic trailer, one tractor pulling and one pushing, three escort vehicles ahead. Each unit needed its own SCT oversize permit and federal highway permit, every bridge and culvert calculated, and the turbine and generator each took 7 to 8 days. Seventeen heavy pieces across two units, all shipped on a schedule counted back from the plant's lifting sequence.

  • Single piece280 t
  • Dimensions11.0×3.8×4.8 m
  • Combination9-axle modular + 3 escorts
  • Inland haul7–8 days per unit
02 RO-RO · in batches 2020–2021

Forty-four Monterrey metro cars, none of them held up the track

CRRC · Metrorrey Line 1

44 cars in four batches: 8 / 24 / 8 / 4. The third batch of 24 was a full RO-RO shipment; the first and fourth went RO-RO as well, while the second had its bogies broken out and shipped in flat racks — because there was only one set of complete-car lifting gear in Monterrey, and without splitting the bogies the sequence would have jammed.

The complete-car gear was designed around each car's centre of gravity; bogies came off and were braced in 40'FR. After Manzanillo they were cleared and put on low beds for a 1,000 km road haul to the Guadalupe depot. Arrival dates for all four batches were counted back from the track-laying plan — the extra 16 cars in the second batch landed exactly to set the pace for assembly.

  • Total44 cars
  • Batches8 / 24 / 8 / 4
  • MethodRO-RO + 40'FR
  • Delivered toGuadalupe depot
03 Dual path · cars 2022

One train, two routes into Mexico City

CRRC · Mexico City Metro Line 1

One 9-car train: 2 RC cars with cabs, 6 N cars, 1 R car. Complete, the longest is 18.22 m and the heaviest 27.2 tonnes; dismantled, each car drops to 7 tonnes but still takes 114–122 m³.

Complete cars went RO-RO through Lázaro Cárdenas and were towed straight to the El Rosario depot; car shells went breakbulk through Manzanillo, and the 18 bogie sets were cased separately. Running both routes at once was about sidestepping the RO-RO schedule — the ship won't wait for cargo, and track laying won't wait either.

  • Formation2 RC + 6 N + 1 R
  • Car weight23.3–27.2 t
  • RoutesLázaro Cárdenas + Manzanillo
  • Bogies18 sets
04 Transformers · inland 2018

160-tonne transformers, from Altamira into three states

CHINT · via China Merchants Logistics · ENEL project

Four ratings: 80, 135, 152 and 160 tonnes. All shipped bare, with a 15-tonne oil tank and crates of radiators alongside each unit. Discharge port Altamira, destinations spread over three states: Dolores (Nuevo León), Cd. Acuña (Coahuila), Magdalena (Tlaxcala).

The key here isn't the ocean leg, it's the lift off the ship and the bridges after it. Each unit on a low bed sized to its body, oil tanks and radiators travelling separately so oversize doesn't stack, one route survey for each of the three roads — bridge capacity, turning radius and toll booth width checked item by item. A survey on site after discharge; the unit counts as delivered only if the body hasn't deformed.

  • Ratings80 / 135 / 152 / 160 t
  • PortsAltamira
  • Destinations3 states
  • AcceptanceDischarge survey
05 EXW · documents 2025–2026

Copper concentrate at Manzanillo: from the factory gate to Qingdao

COSCO Logistics Nanjing / Nanjing Bituolihe · copper concentrate EXW export

The terms were EXW, which means the cargo was still in a yard in Mexico while the responsibility was already mine. Pickup, bagging, weighing, AHK quality and quantity inspection, export declaration, CFDI attestation — then into 2×20'GP from Manzanillo to Qingdao.

With ore the hardest part is making documents and weight agree: weighbridge ticket, packing list, AHK report and CFDI all have to mesh before the container is sealed. So I keep three photographs per shipment — empty, half-full, full with the seal on — filed with the weighbridge slip, and nobody has to go back to the factory when the destination asks.

  • TermsEXW
  • Volume2×20'GP per batch
  • InspectionAHK
  • RouteManzanillo → Qingdao
06 Refinery · modules 2021–2022

Dos Bocas: five module batches, Korea to Tabasco

Pemex Dos Bocas refinery · ex Hyosung, Korea

Dos Bocas is the biggest engineering job Pemex has run in years. My part was the Korean modules, in five batches: Butamer, Penex, Deisobutanizer, Deisohexanizer — shipped unit by unit, from 5-tonne exchangers up to a 27-tonne compressor aftercooler.

Modules trade volume for weight — a 60-tonne bundle can eat 170 m³, so stowage has to be calculated by the cubic, not the tonne. Every line of the five batches was checked for net, gross, packing method and mode (BLK / CNT); on arrival they were split by process unit area so nothing got re-handled on the weighbridge.

  • Batches5 batches
  • UnitsButamer / Penex
  • OriginKorea
  • DestinationDos Bocas, Tabasco
03 — Ports & inland corridors

Eight gateways I've moved cargo through.

Not names off an agent list. For every port below there is a packing list or a customs file with my signature on it.

PortsStateWhat I've done hereInland to
Manzanillo Colima Main container gateway. Sanhua 20'DG / 40'HQ, BOE panels, copper concentrate exports, BMW containers Mexico City · Guadalajara · Reynosa
Ensenada Baja California One of the two BOE panel gateways; also a 1×40'HC transshipment and a port cost model Tijuana · Mexicali · US border
Lázaro Cárdenas Michoacán Metro cars discharged RO-RO and put straight on low beds for the depot Mexico City El Rosario · Guadalajara
Altamira Tamaulipas 160-tonne transformer discharge and distribution to three states, project heavy lift Dolores NL · Cd. Acuña · Monterrey
Veracruz Veracruz Landing port for the gas turbine project, oversize transshipment; start point for the transmission route surveys Puebla · Yautepec · Mexico City
Salina Cruz Oaxaca Transmission route survey (Salina Cruz–Ixtepec), Oaxaca power plant heavy pieces Ixtepec · Oaxaca
Progreso Yucatán Wind towers, blades and nacelle frames returned, loading configuration and value accounting Yucatán wind farms · back to China
Dos Bocas Tabasco Five refinery module batches landed, split by process unit area Dos Bocas refinery site
Inland delivery points

Monterrey / Guadalupe · Mexico City El Rosario · San Luis Potosí · Reynosa · Saltillo · Puebla · Veracruz · Ixtepec, Oaxaca · Lerdo, Durango · Magdalena, Tlaxcala

Beyond road

RO-RO · breakbulk · heavy lift · 9-axle modular hydraulic trailer · low bed · 40'FR flat rack / 40'OT open top · river and barge (Dos Bocas leg)

04 — Timeline

Twelve years, one line never broken.

Mexico isn't a market I touched once. From 2014 to now there has been something running every single year.

  1. 2014

    Gas turbine and transmission, two lines at once

    A 280-tonne gas turbine went inland from Veracruz; two route surveys, Veracruz–Yautepec and Salina Cruz–Ixtepec. The Lake Charles LNG module list was done this year too.

    CEE · LNG Mexico
  2. 2015

    Oaxaca power plant, heavy pieces in

    Clearance and inland transport for Ixtepec, mountain sections run in batches by single-piece weight.

    Ixtepec, Oaxaca
  3. 2016

    Sanhua's first containers

    Taiwan → Manzanillo, 20'DG and 40'HQ mixed. The lane ran on until 2024.

    Sanhua
  4. 2018

    Transformers and panels — heavy and high-value in the same year

    160-tonne transformers distributed from Altamira into three states; BOE panels started running both Ensenada and Manzanillo.

    CHINT · BOE
  5. 2019

    Wind frames back — reverse cargo flow

    Towers, blades and nacelle frames from Progreso back to China, loading configuration and value checked version by version.

    DHL · Envision
  6. 2020—21

    Monterrey metro, 44 cars in four batches

    Through the two hardest pandemic years, with RO-RO schedules shifting under us. Four batches went 8/24/8/4, bogies dismantled and shipped separately.

    CRRC
  7. 2022

    Mexico City metro, dual path

    Complete cars RO-RO through Lázaro Cárdenas, shells breakbulk through Manzanillo, 18 bogie sets cased separately.

    CRRC · COSCO Shipping Logistics
  8. 2023

    Light rail Lines 4&5 and Diageo tanks

    Transport plan for 42 Monterrey monorail cars (882 t / 7,688 m³); Diageo's 18.4-tonne blending tanks EXW → DAP.

    CRRC · Diageo
  9. 2024—25

    The BMW rhythm — one shipment a week

    Seven sailings and 46×40'HC in 2025, Shanghai → Manzanillo door to door. WANHAI / RCL / KMTC combined, THC and storage back-filled per shipment.

    BMW · Wuxi Sumisho · COSCO Shipping Logistics
  10. 2025—26

    Ore out, vehicles in

    Copper concentrate exported EXW from Manzanillo to Qingdao; FOTON vehicle imports modelled for IMMEX in a bonded warehouse; the Bituolihe concentrate contract signed in December.

    COSCO Nanjing · Bituolihe · FOTON
05 — What I can do in Mexico

It only counts once it lands.

These aren't capability statements, they're things that happened. Each one maps back to a project and a year above.

01

Oversize transport permits

SCT and federal highway permits (permiso especial), bridge and culvert capacity, turning radius and toll booth width checked item by item. 9-axle modular hydraulic trailers, low beds, escort convoys.

02

RO-RO & breakbulk

Complete-unit RO-RO, breakbulk vessels, heavy lift. For cargo that drives but can't be lifted — metro cars, coaches, plant — hatch and ramp first, price second.

03

Bonded & IMMEX

Vehicle import bonded warehouse modelling, IMMEX temporary import, a bonded cost model for motorcycle parts. Duty and storage calculated in one table, not read separately.

04

Documents & tax IDs

CFDI attestation, RFC verification, certificates of origin, AHK quality and quantity inspection. For ore, where four documents have to mesh, everything is on file per shipment.

05

Inland fleets & delivery

Long-standing fleets at Manzanillo, Ensenada, Altamira and Lázaro Cárdenas. Depots, power plants and refinery sites all accessible, site permits and discharge equipment included.

06

Spanish on the phone

Quotes, packing lists, route survey reports and customs files go straight to Mexican agents and consignees. Fourteen hours apart — a question sent in the morning gets an answer the same night.

06 — Contact

Cargo into Mexico —
or out of it.

Send the commodity, piece count, dimensions and weights, origin and destination. I'll tell you three things first: whether it can be done, roughly what it costs, and which steps will go wrong.

james.sun@livologistics.com 021 6048 9538
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