Mexico’s Navy shut nine ports on Sunday as Category 4 Hurricane Simon churned north-northwest along the Pacific coast, closing Manzanillo, the country’s busiest container port, and halting commercial traffic along hundreds of miles of shoreline. The storm hadn’t made landfall by Sunday afternoon. Its effects were already rippling through cargo, travel and local economies.
The Storm
At noon local time, the U.S. National Hurricane Center put Simon’s eye 85 miles west-northwest of Manzanillo and about 65 miles south-southeast of Cabo Corrientes. Maximum sustained winds were near 140 mph, slightly below the 145 mph reported that morning. The storm crawled at just 7 mph.
The NHC described the “core of extremely dangerous Category 4 Hurricane Simon” as moving parallel to the coast. It was expected to pass very near the shore Sunday afternoon and night, then stay close on Monday. A hurricane warning covered Punta San Telmo to El Roblito and the Islas Marías. Forecasters added that 8 to 16 inches of rain could fall, with isolated totals of 30 inches possible in Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco. They warned of life-threatening flooding and mudslides on steep terrain. They also cautioned that confidence in the track forecast was low, with guidance shifting offshore.
Commerce Grinds to a Halt
The Navy, known as Semar, closed navigation at San Blas, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas, along with five ports on the Baja California peninsula from Ensenada to Guerrero Negro. Six more harbours, including Barra de Navidad, Nuevo Vallarta and Zihuatanejo, closed to small vessels. Ports will reopen only when the Navy lifts the closures.
The trade stakes are plain. Manzanillo handles more containers than any other Mexican port, while Lázaro Cárdenas, also closed, has rail links north. U.S. cargo importers were told to expect berthing delays at both until the Navy reopens them. Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico closed Manzanillo International Airport to all flights until 2 p.m. Sunday, and Puerto Vallarta’s airport had already closed. Nobody knew whether Manzanillo’s closure would be extended.
Government Response
The federal Security Ministry said it had deployed 22,589 personnel across Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacán, backed by 1,470 vehicles, 323 heavy machines and 18 aircraft. The Navy placed Colima under the relief phase of its Plan Marina emergency plan, and officials suspended non-essential activity in 24 priority municipalities.
Officials reported 579 people evacuated or sheltered: 321 in Jalisco, 143 in Colima and 115 in Nayarit. In Jalisco, 256 people remained in 54 temporary shelters. Colima had six shelters, Nayarit 15, and Michoacán opened 39. A ferry carried 80 residents out of Yelapa, a village south of Puerto Vallarta reached mainly by boat, while Navy personnel moved 55 people, including 25 children, to a shelter in La Huerta. Jalisco sent 200 rescuers to the coast.
President Claudia Sheinbaum urged coastal residents to stay sheltered until officials said the danger had passed. In Punta Pérula, rain had fallen since Saturday night, leaving many areas flooded and roads paralysed, though no victims were reported there. Officials reported no deaths as of Sunday afternoon, and hadn’t released figures for power outages or damage. The next full NHC advisory was due at 3 p.m. local time.
U.S. citizens in the four states were advised to follow local civil-protection orders and stay indoors. Travellers were urged to check with airlines before heading to Puerto Vallarta or Manzanillo.
Why This Matters:
The immediate concern is human safety. Evacuation numbers and troop deployment suggest authorities took the threat seriously. But the commercial side deserves attention too. When the country’s busiest container port and a key rail-linked terminal go dark at once, the cost doesn’t stop at the dock. Importers face berthing delays, and the length of the disruption depends on a storm whose track forecasters admit they can’t pin down with confidence. Officials haven’t given damage or outage figures yet, so the true economic toll remains unknown. From a market perspective, the episode shows how heavily supply chains lean on a handful of coastal chokepoints, and how quickly a single storm can stall them.