Posted on 08/15/2006 8:20:58 AM PDT by hedgetrimmer
The Port of Lazaro Cardenas, on the lower west coast of Mexico, is aptly named after Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, 62nd president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.Government and business representatives from Mexico and Laredo met Wednesday at the La Posada Hotel and Suites to discuss the immediate and future local economic impact of a burgeoning Mexican port.
Cárdenas del Río became known for his progressive program of building roads and schools, promoting education, land reform, social security and equality among the population as well as the unusually strict honesty of his administration.
The Port of Lazaro Cardenas and other business ventures associated with the trade route through Mexico could bring more cargo through the Port of Laredo than NAFTA has produced over the last 10 years, said Roger Creery, executive director of the Laredo Development Foundation Creery said the Lazaro Port improvements and the rail and truck connections through Laredo extend the natural Mexican deep-water port all the way to Laredo and beyond.
“A significant change is about to take place in our town,” Creery said.
Creery said the Lazaro Cardenas port improvements, along with the rail and truck connections through Laredo, extend the Mexican deep-water port’s reach to Laredo and beyond.
Information given during Wednesday’s presentation was handed to state officials in Austin on Tuesday, he said. Creery and other LDF personnel recently visited the Port of Lazaro Cardenas, located on the lower Pacific Coast of Mexico, with representatives from San Antonio and the Port of Corpus Christi.
‘Follow the money’ Creery said the way to see what has happened is to “follow the money.” Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings Group owns the Container Port of Lazaro Cardenas and it’s already invested about $90 million in the facilities. The company broke ground in March on the first of three phases of a megaport terminal. The first phase, representing a $200 million investment, is expected to be in operation by July 2007, according to Gonzálo Ortiz, general manager of the Port of Lazaro Cardenas.
Alternative routes have been developed by shippers so cargo received through Lazaro Cardenas can cut down travel time by four days to less than three and save hundreds of thousands on shipping costs via the Mexican route. Those savings are up to $150 per 20-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) cheaper than the Los Angeles port alternative, Creery said.
Road to Laredo Currently, Lazaro Cardenas is the only Mexican port that offers international transit logistic schemes to Laredo. With nearly 800,000 TEUs anticipated in domestic and international cargo from that port by 2012, Laredo is a crossroads that could see international trade grow. These shifting trade route dynamics position Texas as the U.S. port of entry, a challenge to existing infrastructure along the border, Creery said.
One architect of the Lazaro Cardenas plan is Jesus Melgoza, technical assistant to the Mexican secretary of economic development.
Lazaro Cardenas is No. 1 in bulk cargo movement in Mexico, and it is the deepest Mexican port on the Pacific Ocean — 60 feet deep at its deepest channel, allowing it to receive the ultralarge container vessels capable of 12,000 TEUs now being built in Asia, Melgoza said.
Another important player in the Lazaro Cardenas connection is Kansas City Southern which, over several decades, has acquired ownership of the railways from the Mexican port.
This week, KCS and its subsidiaries said they would provide a new daily service from Lazaro Cardenas, San Luis Potosi and Monterrey to southeastern markets along a route with those Mexican cities and Laredo, Jackson, Miss., and Atlanta.
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More great news. Look for even lower cocaine prices as well as improved availability of brown mexican cancer weed.
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