Mexico to Take Bids in '08 to Build $7 Billion West Coast Port
 Thomas Black - Bloomberg
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| | Punta Colonet is likely to be transformed over the next decade into a megaport that will help to handle the increasing amount of cargo coming from eastern Asia. (Charlie Neuman/San Diego Union-Tribune) |
Mexico plans to begin taking bids in the first quarter from companies vying to build a $7 billion port and rail line on Mexico's west coast as an alternative to congested U.S. ports in California.
Construction on a new port at Punta Colonet in the state of Baja California Norte and a 350-kilometer (217-mile) railroad to connect with the U.S.-Mexico border may begin by the end of 2008, said Alejandro Chacon, coordinator of advisers for the Communications and Transportation Ministry. The port would have capacity to handle as much as 6 million containers a year in time, he said.
"Everything is moving along," Chacon said, during an industrial conference in Los Cabos, Mexico, referring to the preparation for the bidding process. "This can be a very good opportunity to move cargo."
The port will be designed to handle shipping from Asia destined for the U.S., giving companies an alternative to using California's ports.
The project will be funded, built and operated by a group of companies as part of a Mexican government plan to encourage investment in highways, ports, railroads, airports and other infrastructure, Chacon said. The government plans to build 5 new ports, including Colonet, and expand 22 existing ones during the six-year administration of President Felipe Calderon that ends in 2012.
Rail
"Proximity to the U.S. is one of the few advantages that we have," Chacon said. "If we don't have adequate infrastructure, then that proximity won't be very useful."
Mexico's two largest railroad companies are close to reaching an agreement on fees for using each others rail lines, which will make routes more direct and increase train traffic, Chacon said.
Kansas City Southern de Mexico SA and Ferrocarril Mexicano SA have failed to reach an agreement on trackage rights since the government sold its rail lines to the two companies beginning in 1996.
Chacon said the two rail companies have reached agreement on 31 out of 33 trackage rights being negotiated with the help of the ministry as an intermediary. Once all the agreements are reached, the fees will take effect and train traffic should rise, he said.
In Mexico, rail accounts for less than 15 percent of land freight and trucks about 85 percent, putting a strain on the nation's highways. In the U.S., trains carry more than 40 percent of freight.
Contact Thomas Black in Monterrey, Mexico, at tblack@bloomberg.net |
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