Hong Kong's Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) recently opened its US$244 million Phase I expansion of Lazaro Cardenas Terminal (LCT) on the west coast of Mexico.
"With the completion of the Phase I Expansion, LCT is now a world-class container terminal, capable of receiving the largest vessels afloat," said HPH managing director John Meredith.
Like the new container terminal at Prince Rupert, British Columbia, on the Canadian west coast, LCT hopes to take cargo from over-stretched LA-Long Beach, which handles the bulk of US cargo from Asia.
A report by Business News Americas said that to support the newly expanded LCT terminal, KCSM (Kansas City Southern Mexico) which is the Mexican subsidiary of US railway KCS (Kansas City Southern), plans to construct a 110-hectare-multimodal terminal at Lazaro Cardenas. The company is said to be investing US$80 million in the first phase and work starts in January 2008 and will take a year to complete.
The first part of the three-phase programme involves construction of a 600-metre quay, of which 350 metres is currently operational, and the part will be working by next April, a HPH statement said. A new 48-hectare container yard was also built with 250 reefer plugs, as well as a 7,000-square metre container freight station (CFS).
Train links have been upgraded to speed cargo flow of cargo to the southern United States. In addition, a dedicated area has been set up for customs clearance of rail, truck and reefer cargo.
The three-phase expansion project planned for LCT will eventually turn the single berth terminal into a terminal with four berths, which will have a continuous quay length of 1,425 metres, a total yard area of 122 hectares and depths alongside up to 18 metres, a release prepared by HPH said.
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