Kansas City hopes pact will boost freight traffic from Mexico
By Rick Alm
The Kansas City Star
March 23, 2005

Kansas City now has deals with two Mexican deep-water port cities in a bid to become a bigger player in international trade markets.

Local officials on Tuesday signed a cooperative pact with counterparts in Lazaro Cardenas and the Mexican state of Michoacan to foster joint marketing and business development efforts aimed at “increasing freight volume” between the two cities.

A similar agreement in November linked business and government interests here with counterparts in Manzanillo, Mexico's largest Pacific deep-water port about 150 miles north of Lazaro Cardenas.

“The partnership with Lazaro Cardenas puts Kansas City in a pivotal position to become the Pacific port's primary inland port and puts Kansas City another step ahead of our competition for economic growth and job creation,” said Chris Gutierrez, president of nonprofit KC SmartPort, which promotes international trade in the region.

“We're pretty well covered on ( Mexico's) west coast,” said Councilwoman Bonnie Sue Cooper, chairwoman of the quasi-public Kansas City, Missouri-Mexico Trade & Business Initiatives Corp., which signed the agreement for the city. “We are delighted with our partnership with our neighbors to the south.”

The next step, said Cooper, is seeking agreements with Mexico's eastern port cities.

The dramatic increase in shipping and warehouse business envisioned by city officials is dependent on U.S. authorities later this year allowing Mexico to establish its first foreign-based customs inspection office in Kansas City. The sensitive and precedent-setting international deal is the subject of high-level talks now between the two nations.

Sites under consideration include the West Bottoms near Kemper Arena and the former Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport, which is planned for redevelopment as an intermodal transit and cargo hub.

Freight would move through Kansas City, be inspected by Mexican authorities and then be put in sealed containers for movement directly to and from Mexican port destinations with no border delays. The deals become even more lucrative when Asian markets that ship through Mexican ports are figured into the mix.

The arrangement would provide streamlined service for Asian shippers and shave substantial time and labor costs over capacity-strained U.S. ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif.

It is not unusual now for a half-dozen freight companies to hand off a shipment during its international routing from manufacturer to final destination. Goods transported across North America by ground are often similarly delayed and transferred among freight forwarders at border bottlenecks such as Laredo, Texas. With a Mexican customs presence in Kansas City, freight could move by rail or highway almost nonstop across the border, said Gutierrez.

Key Mexican officials are in town for three days to meet with local business leaders to forge partnerships.

Visiting dignitaries include Gustavo Torres Camacho, mayor of Lazaro Cárdenas. Others are Michoacan officials Ricardo Rubi, president of the State Chamber of Commerce; Eloy Vargas Arreola, secretary of economic development; and Edgar Guillaumin Ireta, director of State Industrial Parks.

“This will create new economic-development opportunities for businesses in both communities,” said Vargas. “The key element is that we share the same markets, the same logistics, and it is time to move ahead. Two years ago, we were not ready, but the time is right now; we have something to offer.”

In addition to tours of key facilities such as Richards-Gebaur, Hunt Midwest SubTropolis and Kansas City International Airport, the Mexican visitors will meet with officials from Kansas City Southern, TransSystems, Bayer Corp., the Kansas City Foreign Trade Zone and Black & Veatch Corp. Sessions also are expected with City Manager Wayne Cauthen and Cass County officials.

Kansas City officials have been laying the groundwork for such Mexican trade deals for a decade.

CiCi Rojas, executive director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, said, “We're starting to feel the effects in increased business opportunities” from all the recent contact with Mexico. “Our members are becoming energized … seeing how much more friendly the process is becoming.”

Cooper said the Sister City program provided one of the earliest foundations for Kansas City's relationship with Mexico. “We built the base with our sister cities Guadalajara and Monterrey,” said Cooper.

Both cities have trade and tourism representatives in Kansas City in the city's quasi-public “MexiPlex” office at 16th and Baltimore streets.

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