The new terminal, which was purchased by Marine Terminals Corp. (MTC Holdings) before that company was merged into the Ports America Group, offers multi-modal terminal services and on-site customs and bonded warehousing facilities to ocean carriers, railroads, intermodal and other logistics service providers. With its on-dock direct access to rail line 'N' of Kansas City Southern de M'xico (KCSM), Puerta M'xico will become the terminal of first choice for service to and from the central valley, the ports of L'zaro C'rdenas and Manzanillo, and Laredo at the U.S. border. With an estimated capacity exceeding 150,000 containers and 2 million plus tons of cargo per year on more than 130 developed acres, it essentially doubles the intermodal capacity available to the greater Mexican central valley region and alleviates a major bottleneck in the central valley supply chain. In addition to storage, cross-dock and transloading, the terminal will be a vehicle distribution center.
Welcoming a crowd of several hundred at the inaugural reception at La Hacienda de los Morales in Polanco, M'xico, AIG Highstar Capital Managing Director Christopher Lee commented on the importance and the future of the Puerta M'xico terminal.
'This gathering tonight marks a unique moment in history - the beginning of what is expected to be a period of large and sustained infrastructure investment in M'xico,' Lee said. 'The numbers reach into a hundred billion dollars and cover projects, ranging from ports to railways, highways, water, electricity and much more. These investments today mean economic growth and prosperity for generations to come.'
Giving the keynote address at the terminal's ribbon cutting, Secretary of Communications and Transportation Luis T'llez said, 'Reaching the level of competitiveness that our country needs and deserves, requires that future transportation needs to be intermodal because otherwise the country will not respond to the global competition's demands.'
At the grand opening in Toluca, the State of M'xico Governor Enrique Pe'a Nieto commented that the Puerto M'xico investment, reported as totaling $100 million USD, represented investor confidence in the country of M'xico.
During the ribbon cutting, AIG's Lee expounded upon M'xico's strong economic ties with the United States. He said the sustained increase in 'inward foreign direct investment' was a result of the more stable economic and business environments. That stability, Lee asserted, has allowed private sector investors like AIG Highstar Capital to commit millions of dollars to infrastructure projects, bringing real improvements to the lives of M'xico's citizens. It has also made it possible for talk about the billions of dollars of additional investments envisioned in President Calderon's National Infrastructure Program, which calls for $6.6 billion USD in port-sector infrastructure investment alone.
'The terminal here at Puerta M'xico, together with our other portfolio companies, will help transform M'xico's economy yet again, making it one of the most competitive global economies by lowering logistics costs, thereby creating more jobs and bringing lower prices and greater choices to consumers,' Lee added. 'AIG Highstar Capital is committed to partnering on those investments. Since 2000, Highstar has led or co-led infrastructure investments totaling in excess of $10 billion USD in enterprise value, with investments in M'xico representing $750 million of that.'
