2mun2 Events, MXINFRASTRUCTURE Magazine, Business Conexion Magazine and T21 Magazine created the 1st Logistics Forum for the Competitiveness of the Baja in order to draw out the challenges of the logistics sector, to join forces and to share concerns so as to achieve improved productivity of companies in the sector as well as the competitiveness of infrastructures in the region. The event took place on Thursday June 11 in Ensenada, Baja California.

The program consisted of three panels: "Puerto Ensenada: maritime connection to the world (Challenges and Perspectives)"; "Terrestrial Infrastructure: Key to connect to the United States (Projects to streamline land connectivity) "; and "The logistic challenges in Baja California: the doorways to the United States"

Among the people who attended the opening were Secretary of Tourism of Baja California, Oscar Escobedo Carignan, representing the Governor of Baja California, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid; the director of the Port of Ensenada, Hector Bautista Mejia, representing the General Coordinator of Ports and Merchant Marine of the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT), Guillermo Ruiz de Teresa; Federico Serrano Banuelos, president of the Council of the Maquiladora Export Industry and Tijuana (Index); Osiel Cruz, General Director of 2 mun2 Events; Jose Luis Garcia Rebollo, General Director of Business Conexion; Paulino Rodriguez, Director Chairman of MXInfrastructure; and Julio Sanchez – Rico, CEO of Indra Mexico.

The event ended with a Networking cocktail and the announcement of the second edition of the "Logistics Forum for the Competitiveness of the Baja" for April 2016 in Ensenada, Baja California.

Puerto Ensenada: sea connections to the world

Large cargo ships that supply the global trade routes are taking on new dimensions. Right now, the biggest ship of the world fleet can load up to 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs for the acronym of Twenty Feet Equivalent Unit), however, China Shipping Container Line has ordered the construction of five vessels with a capacity for 19,100 TEUs, while Maersk Line has made an order to Korean shipyards for the construction of 10 vessels with a capacity of 19,300 TEUs; the Danish shipping company plans to launch the first vessel to sea in 2017. All this is happening alongside the development of operation simulation-based studies for ships with a capacity for 24,000 TEUs.

In this scenario the Port of Ensenada is implementing a port reengineering project, which will allow it to work in a more competitive, more efficient way as well as to keep up with the great ports of the world and to receive the new generation of ships, said Hector Bautista Mejia, CEO of the Port Authority of Ensenada (API).

Among the most important projects that are currently being implemented is the extension of the breakwater with more than 600 meters of extra length to increase the safety of operations; the enlargement of the wave reflector to cushion the impact of weather conditions; the diameter expansion of the basin ciaboga from 450 to 550 meters, and the expansion of the navigation channel depth from 16.70 to 18.20 meters, which will grant the port the ability to open access to ships of up to 13,800 TEUs.

As other projects that the API has in standby is the enabling of 12,000 additional sqm of bonded warehouse and 7,000 additional sqm of public courtyards that will serve as a platform for handling general and specialized cargo, as well as the incorporation of–until late of 2015 – of a crane with a capacity to download Super Post Panamax vessels that reach up to 21 container rows. Also, the Port of Ensenada is working to become the first Green Port Mexico, and is due to be certified by ECOPORTS and Lloyd's Register.

After the opening, Javier Rodriguez Miranda, manager of the International Terminal of Ensenada, presented the Maritime Transport Connectivity Index, which shows how well countries are connected to global shipping networks. This index is calculated by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and is based on five components of the maritime transport sector: number of ships, their loading capacity of containers, maximum vessel size, number of services, and the number of companies that deploy container ships in the ports of a country.

The index generates a value of 100 for the country with the highest average indicator. Mexico has a connectivity index of 40.1 points, which is considered as a standard.

On another topic, Rodriguez Miranda explained that the new global scenario is changing patterns of international trade. "Today competition between ports, shipping lines, carriers, service providers, or any other element of the supply chain is increasingly drifting towards a competition between supply chains."

Later on, Matias Ramirez, from Indra Infrastructure, addressed the opportunities for growth of short shipping distance in Mexico, among which are: reducing the tax disadvantages of cabotage services towards trucking; to provide integrated "door to door" domestic services; favoring international scheduled services to take advantage of their idle for carrying general cargo in cabotage; to define a public policy under an intermodal concept; to constitue logistics operators with fleets of domestic containers and the capability to develop and manage intermodal services; to integrate the same technological platform for operations between ports; port integration between major Pacific ports consolidating a maritime network of Mexico; to achieve a joint information system between ports (PCS), to name a few.

To end the panel Eduardo Rosillo, from Mexican Maritime Transportation (TMM for its acronym in Spanish), said that customers or businesses in Mexico "don't have the concept of cabotage in mind" despite representing savings of around 15% in transportation costs.

He stressed that there are 10.3 million tons of potential to move by cabotage in Mexico. Given this potential, TMM is looking forward to a reengineering of their route through a dozen of actions including an intermodal synergy, national distribution, international connectivity, sustainable vision, logistics advantage and concerted vision of the project, among others.

Among the opportunities for Ensenada Rosillo mentioned the diversification of markets, greater connectivity via coastal shipping containers, consolidation as a regional logistics platform, and the incremental volume in containers on the operation of foreign trade.

Terrestrial infrastructure: key to connecting with US.... Continue reading article here

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