Border Lines

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 6/1/1998

* Now that trade with Mexico is on the upswing, U.S. Gulf Coast ports are busy establishing themselves as low-cost alternatives for shipping to and from Mexico. The Port of Mobile, Ala., will be home port for a high-speed intermodal ferry service to be operated by a joint venture of the Illinois Central Railroad and two Mexican partners. (See Logistics, April 1998, Page 30.) Not to be outdone, the Port of Galveston, Texas, has announced plans for a rail-barge service to Mexico's East Coast. A similar service failed several years ago, but this time will be different, insists James S. Owens of barge operator International Trade and Transport Ltd. Rail and port privatization, higher rail rates within Mexico, and bottlenecks at border gateways all mean the time is right for an integrated rail/truck/ocean service, he says. The Port of Gulfport, Miss., meanwhile, will benefit from an alliance between the Canadian National, Illinois Central, and Kansas City Southern railroads. The carriers will share trackage rights on two lines, allowing them to offer single-source service between Gulfport and Jackson, a regional intermodal hub. The agreement puts the port in an ideal position to capture NAFTA trade between Mexico, the United States, and Canada, says Executive Director Anthony J. Taormina. The big question for all three ports: Can they attract enough shippers to make rail-water services viable? No one's been able to pull it off yet.