Oso
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New Port
Nearby planned port concerns Ensenadans
BY GARRETT NASWORTHY
The News
Officials from Mexicali, Baja California's state capital, are more optimistic about the infrastructure building that will come with a giant port in
the state than their counterparts in Ensenada, a port city less than 60 miles from the project.
"There stands to be both major benefits and serious downsides depending on the business that wins the bid and their decision on relations with the
Port of Ensenada," said Juan Carlos Ochoa, commercial director of the Port of Ensenada Administration.
"The major blow would be if the developers of Punta Colonet make a highway to the border with the United States - that is the day that the Port of
Ensenada really has to start worrying."
Punta Colonet, the site of a proposed 30-dock giant port, lies within the municipality of Ensenada. The official orientation for interested bidders
took place on Thursday, organized by the Communications and Transportation Secretariat, or SCT. Construction is due to begin in November 2009.
Ochoa said that if a highway is built to the U.S.-Mexico border it will be hard to compete for local Baja container traffic, and Ensenada will be
pressed to adapt its facilities away from containerized shipping.
There might yet be an upside from less commercial trade, however, acording to Alfredo González, a worker at one of the many tourism-based restaurants
in downtown Ensenada.
"Some locals have seen the addition of the port in Punta Colonet as an opportunity to decrease container-based port traffic, helping to clean up the
surrounding beaches and popular surf spots," he said.
Other city officials also had good things to say about the plan.
"The project in Punta Colonet is a huge socioeconomic opportunity for the Ensenada area," said Akemi Shinohare, director of the Ensenada Council of
Economic Development.
"There will be large opportunity for development in the industrial sector surrounding the port, and for businesses in the region to contribute to port
construction and operations," Shinohare said.
TRAINS may boost Mexicali
Mexicali may profit more than Ensenada due to a proposed railroad planned to link Punta Colonet to Mexicali and then on to Yuma, Arizona, as part of
the same project.
"We see great possibilities for expansion in the shipping and transport sector and the nearby maquiladora manufacturing industry of Mexicali," said
federal Deputy Dolores Manuell-Gómez Angulo, who represents Mexicali.
Manuell-Gómez said the big winner, with a potential 100,000 new jobs, could be the maquiladora industry, which processes partly finished products for
export. She said the industry looks set for a chance to process both Asian goods headed for the United States and U.S. products headed for Asia.
"This provides a grand opportunity for expansion of the economy in Mexicali and the surrounding region," she said.
The line would run from with a capacity of up to 6 million 20-foot-equivalent-units.
Mexicali could also get jobs because goods bound for the United States would have be inspected there before being shipped on.
"This will help the manufacturing and transport industries, along with a newly planned cargo airport, in making the Mexicali-Imperial Valley region
become a dynamically competitive region," said René Acuña, the director of the Mexicali Economic Development Council.
It has successfully lobbied the government to help construct a specialized cargo airport close to the city. Acuña hopes that the two projects will
combine to give the city a significant economic resurgence.
The whole port plan involves a 45-year renewable concession to develop the port and run all operations there, as well as building a railway from the
port to two points in the United States, and build a radio communications facility.
The SCT has previously estimated that the port will create at least 59,000 jobs during development, and the same number during operations.
It will have a capacity to receive 2 million containers per year when it opens.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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Baja-Brit
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Are you an oso grande de peluchito? 
As you were.
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bacquito
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Thanks for the info. I have heard increasing talk of the Colonet Project going on despite the proposed improvements of the Panama Canal. Pres.
Calderon was in the Colonet area to emphasize its importance.
It is my understanding that a proposed rail link for the Colonet Project will not go through Yuma but well east of Yuma.
If the Colonet Project goes through it will greatly change Ensenada and also North Baja
bacquito
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CaboRon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bacquito
Thanks for the info. I have heard increasing talk of the Colonet Project going on despite the proposed improvements of the Panama Canal. Pres.
Calderon was in the Colonet area to emphasize its importance.
It is my understanding that a proposed rail link for the Colonet Project will not go through Yuma but well east of Yuma.
If the Colonet Project goes through it will greatly change Ensenada and also North Baja |
That is an understatement .
This thing will be a large as the Port of Los Angeles...
Just think of the thousands of longshoremen , workers will come from all over the world. They will need houseing, and all of the logistical support
of a good sized army.
This will require highly skilled labor. Not day laborers.
The impact on Ensanada will be significant !
And it is a crapshoot ---- It has got to come online before the Panama Canal Expansion is finished, or it's a loser.
CaboRon
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Oso
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bacquito
It is my understanding that a proposed rail link for the Colonet Project will not go through Yuma but well east of Yuma.
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I hope you're right about that. We sure don't need the same situation as Flagstaff- 150 trains a day, splitting the town in half, screwing up
traffic, horns blaring night and day.
Where it goes depends on who wins the construction bid. I still consider Luis Heredia a friend, even after he left Rep. Grijalva's office to become a
"spokeshole" for Southern Pacific. Once, seeking to tone down the controversy over going through downtown Yuma, he told me he thought it would cross
the river south of Gadsden and parallel to County 22nd. "Luis," I said,"you're talking about 50 yards from my f***ing house!"
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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David K
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Oso, you can count the containers as they roll by!
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bajalou
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| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
And it is a crapshoot ---- It has got to come online before the Panama Canal Expansion is finished, or it's a loser.
CaboRon |
Why do you say that? The time for the container ships to pass through the canal to a east coast port and return is very costly for the steamship
operators and turning the ships back to the orient from a west coast port makes them money.
Even 25 years ago, it made economic sense for them to ship across the country by rail and reload on ships to go to Europe. As well, of course, all the
traffic for the US.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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