A Mexican company is seeking investment to develop a North American trade corridor between the Pacific coast port city of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, and Winnipeg, Canada.
Caxxor Group is aiming to raise US $3.3 billion in initial investment to build a new port and shipyard in Mazatlán, industrial parks in an undisclosed number of locations in Mexico, a Mexican exports logistics center in Winnipeg and 87 kilometers of railway tracks in Sinaloa.
The company’s general director told the newspaper Milenio that the so-called USMCA corridor (named after the new North American trade pact) will be a privately-funded project.
Carlos Ortiz said several groups have already shown interest in the project and progress has been made in obtaining the required permits in Mexico, the United States and Canada. It is expected to start in the second half of 2021.
Investment of $1 billion will be allocated to the port in Mazatlán, which will primarily receive agricultural, automotive, manufacturing and energy sector freight, he said.
The port is expected to have the capacity to move 8 million containers annually, which would make it the largest in Latin America.
Ortiz said that after goods leave the port and move along the Mexican section of the USMCA corridor, they will be transformed at newly-built factories and plants that will add value to them. The transformational nature of the trade corridor will be a point of difference with other logistics routes such as the Panama Canal, he said.
The corridor will run through industrial regions of Sinaloa, Durango and Monterrey, Nuevo León, before reaching the United States. In the U.S., the corridor will run to Chicago, Illinois, via Dallas, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“It’s a holistic development in which the United States, Canada and Mexico are integrated,” Ortiz said.
He said that $600 million will be allocated to construction of 87 kilometers of railroad across the Sierra Madre Occidental to the new Mazatlán port. The new section of track will provide access to 7,115 kilometers of rail in the proposed USMCA corridor.
“There are several railway operators … that are interested in investing in the project,” Ortiz said.
He said that $1 billion will be invested in the new industrial parks, $300 million will go to a new Mazatlán shipyard and $400 million will be allocated to the Winnipeg logistics center. There is determination in Mexico, the United States and Canada for the project to succeed, Ortiz said.
It is expected to take at least five years to complete.
President López Obrador has expressed confidence that the USMCA, which took effect in July, will attract new investment to Mexico. But despite the new trade pact’s entry into force, many investors appear wary of investing in new projects in Mexico due to uncertainty created by the federal government.
United States Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau said in June that it’s not a good time to invest in Mexico, while the U.S. State Department said in a September statement that “investors report regulatory changes, the shaky financial health of the state oil company Pemex, and a perceived weak fiscal response to the Covid-19 economic crisis have contributed to ongoing uncertainties.”
Changes to rules in the Mexican energy sector are seen as particularly hostile to private and foreign investment.
Source: Milenio (sp)
