Seaport Group - Port Consultants

Mexico

Ocupa Manzanillo. Redesign of terminal yard. Seaport's assignment was to provide optimization of two handling technologies capable of achieving high stacking density. The challenge was the unique shape of the terminal, which made it difficult to fit in full RTG and RMG modules.

TBA Inc. for Ocupa Manzanillo. Review of Manzanillo, Mexico container market. Seaport conducted a review of the container trade for TBA Inc. who in turn was advising Ocupa, a container terminal operator in the Port of Manzanillo, Mexico. The work included:

Review and projection of the container market in Manzanillo and the West Coast Latin America.
Development of shipping line service patterns in Manzanillo and Balboa, Panama.
Review of the ports on the West Coast of South America, principally the ports of Callao, Peru and Guayaquil, Ecuador which have high traffic volumes and whose limitations constrain the vessels used on many trades on the West Coasts of Central and South America to geared sub-Panamax ships.
Review of the impact of the Panama Canal expansion on the region’s container trade.
Implications of the changing trade patterns for the terminal operator.

CANAC Inc. for Baja California State Government. Development of Punta Colonet concession. Seaport served as technical port consultant on the development of the port, container terminal and railroad concession for Punta Colonet in Baja California, Mexico.

US Department of Agriculture. Costs of trans-border shipping. In this project, Seaport defined the costs of trans-border shipping in light of post-September 11 border security requirements. The work included analysis of modal competition and overall transportation system costs.

US Department of Agriculture. US – Mexico agricultural traffic study. Seaport performed a transport cost analysis of wheat, corn, and high unit value commodities moving between Mexico and the US and Canada. The primary focus was on the growth in market share of direct rail shipments of Midwestern grains to central Mexico, versus Mississippi river and rail movement to Gulf ports. The study analyzed the possible effects of dredging at Veracruz in order to accommodate Panamax ships through the use of a vessel cost model developed for the project. Also studied were possibilities for use of Mexican Pacific ports for Western US and Canadian grain destined to central Mexico, instead of direct rail movements. The second phase of the analysis examined direct trucking versus intermodal rail or coastal ship for high unit value agricultural commodities, such as bananas, melons, and mangoes. A paper describing the analysis was published by USDA in 2003 as part of “Transportation Bottlenecks in the U.S.-Mexican Food System: Impact on Bilateral Food and Agricultural Trade.”

Southeastern Mexico rail reconnaissance study. Seaport conducted a preliminary assessment of rail infrastructure and operational efficiencies of the Southeastern sector of the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico (Mexico City -Veracruz - Yucatan to Guatemala border), due to be privatized in 1997.

The client was a US investment and rail management firm contemplating financial participation in the project. The team performed an analysis of current traffic levels, tariff structures and levels of service. The team also assessed the operational status and reliability of the locomotive and wagon fleet, including shop operations and mechanical failure patterns, as well as yard operations.

The report concluded with negotiating strategy suggestions if privatization was pursued, and suggested institutional and operational improvements.