(The following story by David Hendricks appeared on the San Antonio Express-News website on October 14.)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — In the auto manufacturing corridor stretching from Detroit to Puebla, Mexico, the region least positioned for the future is the Texas-Northeast Mexico area.
Michigan suppliers who resisted moving production here are glad they didn’t move into this region, despite a couple of new assembly plants, including San Antonio’s Toyota plant making Tundra pickups. The border region makes the wrong vehicles, they tell themselves.
Consumer preferences for gasoline-efficient cars now favor plants in the Midwest and the South, according to a report compiled for Bexar County. Commissioners and department heads have organized a conference, set for Nov. 18-19 in downtown San Antonio, joining auto and supplier executives with economic development leaders. The goal: make the region more attractive for future auto investments.
Clearing up border bottlenecks is the key. Without efficient transportation, supply chains cannot operate smoothly. Trucks and trains encounter delays at the U.S.-Mexico border that divides the region.
The recent Laredo Development Foundation logistics conference updated proposals that could expedite cross-border shipments. Laredo’s World Trade International Bridge, which opened in 2000 and processes most of the truck freight in the Laredo area, has plans to expand to 15 lanes from eight, to add cargo lots and to operate around the clock instead of closing at midnight on weekdays.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Port Director Gene Garza said he hopes the proposals become reality by 2012. The bridge already has reduced freight truck delays to an average of less than an hour, from four to five hours before 2000.
Three proposals exist to replace the single-track rail bridge, built in 1892, that crosses the Rio Grande in Laredo. Rail demand is expected to exceed the bridge’s capacity in about five years.
* Kansas City Southern proposes a new bridge downriver from Laredo that would connect its Mexican and U.S. lines, its U.S. side switching yard and Union Pacific Corp.’s massive Laredo yard. The proposal calls for 11 miles of new tracks on the Mexican side and 27 miles on the U.S. side. The new bridge could cross 50 trains a day. The daily capacity on the old bridge is 35.
KCS says it can finance its proposal through bridge fees and government funding, including grants. KCS plans to apply for U.S. and Mexican permits late this year and to have the bridge in operation within five years, said David Eaton, corporate affairs director of Kansas City Southern de México.
* Union Pacific proposed a new rail bridge upriver from downtown Laredo, near the World Trade International Bridge site, in 1995. The plan has no start date.
* Mexico state Nuevo León plans a rail bridge to accompany its freight/passenger car bridge at Colombia, about 16 miles upriver from Laredo. Because of the need for long stretches of new tracks on both sides of the border to connect existing tracks, the Nuevo León proposal is considered the most expensive.
Tom Wade, president of Laredo’s Logistics & Manufacturing Association, said Laredo-area politicians are trying to influence the location of the new rail bridge. The best solution is to let the railroad companies decide, Wade said.
Rail plays a limited role in the region because rail saves time and money only on cross-country hauls, not the Laredo-San Antonio route. But large vehicle parts, such as truck frames, must move by rail. The Tundra chassis, made by Metalsa in Monterrey, takes five days to arrive in San Antonio. The frames first are carried by KCS in Mexico, transferred to U.P.’s Laredo yard, then connected to a U.P. train bound for San Antonio.
When Texas and Mexican auto executives gather to discuss the manufacturing future of this region, they must involve border officials in their deliberations. A more efficient border would make a huge difference for this region.