Union Pacific moves Powder River Basin coal through the Port of Guaymas
Union Pacific and Ferromex hauled Powder River Basin coal from Wyoming to Mexico’s Port of Guaymas, and the first test shipment was delivered to Vietnam.
How the coal reached the Gulf of California
The coal came from Peabody’s North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Wyoming. Union Pacific moved the loaded trains south and handed them to Ferromex at Nogales, Arizona. From there, the Mexican carrier ran them on to Guaymas in Sonora. Several trains have run so far, and Union Pacific’s account of the trial confirms that one vessel has been loaded.
Peabody has been more precise about timing. The producer told the Jefferies Global Industrials Conference that a Panamax-sized vessel was loaded in early June and that the cargo was delivered on time and to specification. Other Asian counterparties have since shown interest. Peabody is evaluating a second Guaymas test and the planned Port of Oakland project, which its May presentation said was expected to begin operations in late 2028.
“If market conditions support it, this creates another viable export option for customers,” said Kelli Sweet, director of marketing and sales at Union Pacific.
What the Port of Guaymas handled in 2025
ASIPONA Guaymas recorded 5,008,788 tonnes of total cargo in 2025, down 5 percent from 5,250,245 tonnes in 2024. The result also fell 35 percent short of its operating plan of 7.65 million tonnes. The port’s 2026 commercial handbook separately advertises total operating capacity of 14.2 million tonnes. That is a port-wide figure, however, and does not establish how much thermal coal the existing handling system could process.
Among the 2.93 million tonnes classified in the handbook’s operating breakdown, mineral bulk was the largest business line, at 2,448,966 tonnes. The historical series shows that total port throughput reached 9 million tonnes in 2018 before falling to 5.01 million tonnes in 2025.
| Year | Total cargo, thousand tonnes |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 9,000 |
| 2019 | 7,306 |
| 2020 | 6,609 |
| 2021 | 7,089 |
| 2022 | 7,150 |
| 2023 | 7,314 |
| 2024 | 5,250 |
| 2025 | 5,009 |
Figures rounded to the nearest thousand tonnes by the port authority. Source: ASIPONA Guaymas commercial handbook.
ASIPONA also links to its latest official draught table, dated 15 September 2025. It lists an official draught of 15 metres in the navigation channel, turning basin and berths 1-4. Berths 5 and 6 have an official draught of 14 metres. The corresponding physical depths are 16 metres and 14.5 metres respectively.
The current commercial handbook does not identify a dedicated coal terminal. It does list mineral bulk handling among the port’s business lines. Modernization projects there cover mineral storage yards, a mineral warehouse, construction dredging, the railway circuit and a multipurpose quay. It provides no completion dates or coal-specific annual capacity for those projects.
Union Pacific moved coal to Guaymas before
This is not Union Pacific’s first coal move to Guaymas. The railroad started carrying metallurgical coal from the New Elk mine near Jansen, Colorado, in 2021. It expected more than 8,000 carloads in the first year, with cargoes bound for Asia and South America. Sweet worked on that account as well.
What is new is the product and the basin. In May the producer described Guaymas as the site of its first test shipment of thermal coal to Asia. The 2026 movement extends the Guaymas route from metallurgical coal from Colorado to thermal coal from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The Oakland project, meanwhile, is expected to begin operations in late 2028.
What to watch next
Union Pacific says future shipments will depend on market conditions. Peabody has not announced a date for a second movement, but says it is evaluating another Guaymas test. The available documents do not establish whether the main constraint would be rail capacity, wagon staging, coal storage, ship-loading capacity or commercial demand.
