U.S. makes deal to let in Mexico’s trucks

[K1052]

If American corporations can get much cheaper port access, who says that they won't fund new ports in Mexico?

Time is money. When the canal can take more and larger container ships the cargo companies will start bypassing the western ports (which are way overloaded anyway) and deliver to the middle of the US. I figure Houston will become a huge player in intermodal shipping given it's favorable distance from Panama and rail/road connections.

 

[Wreckem]

Time is money. When the canal can take more and larger container ships the cargo companies will start bypassing the western ports (which are way overloaded anyway) and deliver to the middle of the US. I figure Houston will become a huge player in intermodal shipping given it's favorable distance from Panama and rail/road connections.

This. It is already being planned for.

Cargo ship to rail is far cheaper than cargo ship to tractor trailer.

Apparently the new PanaMax ships will be able to carry 13000TEU through the canal which more than doubles capacity. Do people really think, its going to be cheaper to have trucks move all those containers from Mexico to the US, rather than just dropping them off in the US and ship them by rail? It would probably take 7000-8000 trucks to move all the cargo from a ship that size.

 

[Engineer]

This. It is already being planned for.

Cargo ship to rail is far cheaper than cargo ship to tractor trailer.

Apparently the new ships will be able to carry 13000TEU through the canal. Do people really think, its going to be cheaper to have trucks move all those containers from Mexico to the US, rather than just dropping them off in the US and ship them by rail? It would probably take 7000 trucks to move all the cargo from a ship that size.

I can see where RAIL would have an advantage, assuming that all of the cargo is going in the same basic direction. I guess time will tell. Nothing would surprise me in the corporate attempts to eliminate US labor for any equation that they can.

Are there any trains that run from Mexico, lol?

By they way, why don't we take all the cargo at the border and then ship it via RAIL to the rest of the country instead of letting Mexican trucks deliver it?

 

[Wreckem]

I can see where RAIL would have an advantage, assuming that all of the cargo is going in the same basic direction. I guess time will tell. Nothing would surprise me in the corporate attempts to eliminate US labor for any equation that they can.

Are there any trains that run from Mexico, lol?

By they way, why don't we take all the cargo at the border and then ship it via RAIL to the rest of the country instead of letting Mexican trucks deliver it?

Most of the goods being trucked to the border and now over the border are goods produced in Mexico. What we have been doing is loading and unloading trucks at the border. There isn't currently a rail facility along the US-Mexico border, although one is soon to be under construction. However, some does actually get moved by rail, just not from the border, it gets shipped to places like San Antonio where it is then moved by rail. The Port of San Antonio is an inland port and is also Foreign trade zone.

 

[K1052]

By they way, why don't we take all the cargo at the border and then ship it via RAIL to the rest of the country instead of letting Mexican trucks deliver it?

It would freeze out any rail company that doesn't have an existing rail connection to Mexico. In this case, IIRC, Union Pacific would have a nearly complete monopoly on cross border traffic if it was mandated for all cargo to move by rail.

I do agree that rail transport would definitely be preferable though.

 

[dank69]

Yes because being belligerent and hostile toward private enterprise is a sure fire and bang up way to promote growth and expansion in the US vs creating a environment that seeks to be business friendly. However if your views are in line with communist despots like Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, etc the later may seem slightly more attractive in its appeal to the masses.

...
Free trade works with nations of similar wages (maybe slightly lower or maybe slightly higher) and whom are almost on par with their standard of living. What does not work is opening up your labor markets to impoverished 3rd world nations or 2nd world nations like China who are predatory in their trade dealings and currency manipulation. Maybe it is time we revoke the "Favored trading partner" status awarded to China by Clinton.

Bolded for the lulz.