| | |  Business News | September 2008 
Punta Colonet - Mexican MegaPort, American MegaProfit
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| | The mega container port and rail project planned 150 miles south of San Diego at Baja California's Punta Colonet will benefit the United States as well as Mexico, top Mexican federal officials say. | | |
Vast fortunes will be made as Mexico turns the sleepy seaside town of Punta Colonet into one of the world's biggest mega-ports and a principal transfer point for Asian goods destined for U.S. markets.
Five billion dollars is about to transform a sleepy seaside town on Mexico's Baja California into one of the world's busiest shipping centers, providing once-in-a-lifetime business opportunities for U.S. and international investors.
In just 3-5 years, Megapuerto De Punta Colonet, or the megaport of Punta Colonet, will handle six million containers a year - twice the total number handled in all of Mexico in 2007. Volume is expected to triple within 15 years. Most of the freight will arrive from Asia, destined for the United States.
A thriving city of 200,000 will spring up from sand and farmland, with all the housing, commerce, roads, schools and infrastructure needed to accommodate a surging population. Eighty-thousand workers will be employed just by the port itself.
Punta Colonet, 150 miles south of San Diego, will be the terminus of a vital new rail connection to U.S. freight transfer cities, possibly including Yuma, Arizona or El Paso, Texas. The new route will allow trains to avoid congested tracks in Southern California.
The bold project, championed by Mexico president Felipe Calderon, is urgently needed to relieve chronic freight bottlenecks at the United States' largest ports, Long Beach and Los Angeles, California. Once built, Punta Colonet will compete directly with those operations. (California's freight dominance is also being challenged by expansion of Canada's northern Prince Rupert Port and a $5 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, which will speed Asian freight to Miami, Atlanta and other southeastern U.S. cities.)
Facility construction costs will be borne by the private companies that will operate the Punta Colonet megaport. Mexico is committing nearly $50 billion a year in public/private funds until 2012 to build the comprehensive infrastructure the new city will require. Calderon sees the investment as a good way to offset the U.S. economy's dramatic slowdown.
Bidding on port facilities opened August 28, 2008. Bids were expected from Empresas ICA SAB, the country's largest construction company, billionaire Carlos Slim's Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SAB and the building unit of Grupo Mexico SAB. The winning bidder for a 45-year concession to operate the port and rail line is to be announced in 2009.
The Mexican government is currently negotiating with railroads, to resolve routing issues, and with Mexican mining group GML, to settle certain land ownership disputes. With so much at stake for both Mexico and the U.S., all obstacles are likely to be overcome in short order.
For those businesses eager to capitalize on the extraordinary commercial opportunities of the Punta Colonet project, valuable domains (web addresses) like MegapuertoDePuntaColonet.com, PuntaColonetProperties.com and PuntaColonetHomes.com are available for purchase, at those addresses.
Business opportunities will abound in nearby communities as well, due to the overflow of new residents, significant improvements to Highway 1 (that connects Punta Colonet to the U.S.), and radically higher standards of living. Domains like RanchoCepeda.com and RanchoSanRefugio.com are likely to attract a good deal of interest.
Vast fortunes will be made as Mexico creates a metropolis on its Western shore. |
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