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NASCO CONFERENCE
OPENS IN QUEBEC CITY |
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QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC - The annual NASCO Conference 2009 is to open June 2 and run through June 4 in this provincial capital city of host member Province of Quebec, with special addresses by former ambassadors of the U.S. and Canada to each nation on the key trade and transportation challenges and the opportunities in economic development and cooperation.
The fifth annual NASCO Conference entitled "Moving North America Forward" is expected to attract more than 400 members and supporters to the popular event. The tri-national organization is dedicated to developing the continent's leading multi-modal corridor transportation system through the heart of the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
"The members of NASCO are working to improve the efficiency and security of transportation systems and lower the cost of doing business to make the NASCO Corridor the most efficient and attractive place to expand or relocate business," said NASCO Board President George Blackwood.
Opening day highlights include keynote addresses by Gordon D. Giffin, an attorney and former U.S. Ambassador to Canada under President Clinton, and Michael Kergin, former Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. and an international law attorney.
Other conference highlights include a parallel Leader's Summit hosted by Quebec Province Premier Jean Charest, and which is to include a number of his counterparts in Canada and governors from the U.S. and Mexico states along the NASCO Corridor through the heartland of North America.
Officials with the Canadian NASCO member provinces of Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan also will participate in the Leader's Summit and the Conference.
Glen Hodgson, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of The Conference Board of Canada, will give an address entitled "North American Economic Outlook: Recovery on the Horizon."
Meanwhile, Eugenio Sevilla-Sacasa, Vice President and Managing Director Ryder Latin America, a unit of logistics and shipping giant Ryder System, Inc., will speak on a panel on 'The Future of Multi-Modal Transportation" along with Pat Quinn, a former Chairman of the American Trucking Association and President of U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc.
Des Moines, Iowa and the State of Iowa, co-hosts for the 2010 NASCO Conference, will offer a closing luncheon in Quebec City.
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| NAPOLITANO SIGNS BORDER
SAFETY ACCORDS IN OTTAWA |
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OTTAWA - U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her Canadian counterpart, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, reached new accords Wednesday on bilateral security co-operation and sharing resources, and a second package to increase security without limiting trade across the border based on an assessment of major border security threats.
Napolitano and Van Loan sealed a new Framework for the Movement of People and Goods across the border for periods of during and following an emergency. The accord assures that first responders, police and fire rescue and security personnel, will not be delayed at the border when emergency assistance is needed in either country. And, if the border is closed for whatever reason, the countries agree to return to normal operations as quickly as possible.
The actions resulted from the regularly scheduled, twice-yearly meetings between the nations' top domestic security chiefs.
The second major accord achieved has been labeled The Shiprider Agreement, was signed signed Tuesday in Detroit, and involved both countries' cooperating to combat organized crime in shared border waterways.
With vessels jointly staffed by law enforcement personnel from each country, the Shiprider program will allow more effective and efficient policing of the U.S.-Canada maritime shared border.
Shiprider is expected to beef up the partner nations' ability to deter, detect, and combat cross-border crime, including the smuggling and trafficking of illegal drugs, tobacco, guns and people. The measures are deemed essential to making the border regions safer, more secure, and more efficient for quality of life and the prosperity of the North American economy.
"They (the security accords) also stand as clear evidence that we can enhance security and improve the flow of people and goods across the border at the same time," Minister Van Loan said in a statement. "Those who say there is a trade-off - that you cannot improve security without harming trade - are simply wrong."
ANALYSIS: Canada and its government and ministers have taken time to adjust, but now seem to grasp fully that efforts to maintain and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness for bilateral trade of its key border with the USA from now on begin and end with the topic of security.
The so-called "thickening" of the border -- from the viewpoint of the Canadians -- from hardened U.S. policies and procedures permanently shifting away from the traditionally friendly open-door policies on the U.S.-Canadian border is now a permanent feature. Bilateral relations on this subject, regardless of the political color of the U.S. Administration in power, will hold to the premise of security first and last in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 on the USA that killed nearly 3,000.
This new reality is not all bad for cross-border trade and transportation.
The move to adapt the most leading-edge information technology to secure the border posts and region opens the possibility of enhanced trade and transport efficiency from customs and border protection and national security forces. Their mastery of the highest-level-ever trade and transport intelligence has increased efficiency and risk management over time.
This new source of trade and transport intelligence for U.S. security and commercial supervisors emerged from the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) information technology system deployed in 2007 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a key division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
With ACE in place in 2007, U.S. customs and border protection authorities began obtaining mandatory incoming trucks and trailer electronic manifests and data reports one full hour prior to cargo arrival at the U.S. border ports of entry.
This new basis for risk management-based allocation of DHS/CBP's limited human and equipment resources is a real start toward exponentially increasing security, efficiency and productivity at U.S. border crossing posts. This opportunity simply did not exist prior to the unveiling of the ACE system in 2007. |
| KCS CEO,KCSM President talk public
investments with President Calderon |
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MEXICO CITY - Kansas City Southern Railroad Chairman and CEO Mike Haverty and KCS de Mexico SA de CV President Jose Zozaya last week met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Secretary of Communications and Transport Juan Molinar at Los Pinos, the Mexican presidential residence.
The talks focused on development of the key western natural deepwater Port of Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacan, public/private partnerships to improve rail infrastructure and the resolution of trackage rights issues.
Referring to the key Lázaro container freight seaport, Haverty and Zozaya informed the President that KCSM would soon host 50 people from major companies on site at the Port. The President agreed to support the investor visit with Federal participation.
Haverty and Zozaya noted Mexico's comprehensive rail network now serves all the nation's critical markets. They asked that the government focus on improving the network through projects with public benefits, instead of projects that support specific private interests. Examples given included investments to build road overpasses and underpasses in congested metro areas and by-passes in cities like Monterrey, San Luis Potosí, Celaya and Morelia.
The executives emphasized that despite Mexico's railroads investing billions on track, technology, signal systems, locomotives and rail cars to upgrade their systems, congestion in urban area road and rail networks is limiting the companies from advancing in speed and safety.
Public investments in such rail projects would boost Mexico competitiveness by raising average rail network speeds, while driving demand for construction materials and jobs. Haverty said the U.S. is competitive in the global marketplace in part because of its outstanding transportation infrastructure.
The executives praised President Calderon for his government's handling of the swine flu epidemic and for his courage and determination in combating drug cartels and formally invited him and his government to KCS headquarters in Kansas City.
ANALYSIS: KCS de Mexico Railroad, a decade plus after Mexico's central rail trunk line's privatization and billions in capital investments for modernization, is now powerfully focused on attacking the key bottlenecks along its main trunk line.
That trunk extends through the heartland of Mexico from the key western Port of Lázaro Cardenas in Michoacán state, up through the industrial powerhouse of San Luis Potosi state, through the central markets of Guanajuato state and northward up through the key northern industrial capital city of Monterrey and environs and to the connection with KCS Railroad at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas state on the U.S. border line.
The Mexican metro areas have grown up around the long-built KCSM rail lines, once on the outskirts and now solidly within sprawling urban areas, slowing KCSM's freight train movements and deliveries to and from major consumer and industrial markets.
Unblocking these urban congestion points is a common problem for railroads in Mexico, but also across North America, most specifically in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Kansas City, MO and Chicago rail yards along the NASCO Corridor. |
INT'L TRADE DROPPING 2ND YEAR IN
2009 IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA |
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LOS ANGELES - A new report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Council predicts Southern California's international trade economy will decline for a second year in a row in 2009, but will grow a bit in 2010 as the economy recovers.
For 2009, the report projects a 13.5% decline in container volume at the combined ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and a 15.8% decline in two-way trade through the Los Angeles Customs District to $300 billion.
According to the report, this year's decline follows what it calls a "dismal performance in 2008." However, it forecasts a 1.6% rise in port volumes for calendar 2010.
"Two-thousand and eight was a year full of unhappy surprises for the international trade industry," said LAEDC chief economist Nancy Sidhu.
"The industry saw employment fall by 1.1%, or 5,600 jobs, while industrial vacancy rates spiked up to 9.9% at year-end 2008 in the Riverside-San Bernardino area," formerly a boom area for new construction speculation that international trade would continue to expand. Now, however, international trade-related employment is expected to fall by 9.3%, or 4,600 jobs, in 2009, the report projected.
Among other key report findings:
The Los Angeles Customs District retained its number one US ranking in terms of trade value last year, with an increase of 2.5% to $356.1 billion over 2007.
But the New York/New Jersey port complex, the U.S. number two international trade district, saw a more robust gain of 9.3% to $353.6 billion in 2008 over 2007;
The number of containers handled at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach last year totaled 14.3 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), down 8.5% from the 2007 year.
By contrast, New York/New Jersey, the nation's second largest port, saw a drop of only 0.6% to 5.3 million TEUs in 2008 over the previous year;
Despite the decline in container traffic, the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex maintained its number five ranking among the world's top ports;
China easily retained its position as the top trading partner for the LA/LB Ports Customs District, with total two-way trade value of $186.6 billion in 2008.
Japan was a distant second with $59.3 billion;
The top export commodity out of the district was the category composed of computers, peripherals, machinery, appliances and parts, with a value of $17.3 billion;
The top import commodity was the category for electrical equipment, TVs and electronic parts, with a value of $58.2 billion.
"Despite the barrage of bad numbers, there were some positive events for international trade during 2008," Sidhu said. She noted progress such as the expansion of the Transpacific and China shipping terminals at the Port of Los Angeles and Pier G at the Port of Long Beach, as well as the environmental impact report for the Middle Harbor project in Long Beach.
"There will be a two-part impact from these projects," she explains. "Jobs will be created and capacity will be increased."
ANALYSIS: Jack Kyser, founding economist for LAEDC's Kyser Center for Economic Research, calls the global economic downturn a huge challenge for the region, with the economies of four of the customs district's top trading partners expected to record declines.
Environmental remediation presents further challenges, he has written, but notes considerable progress achieved on improving operations.
"The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach can claim to be the greenest ports in the nation," he said. Many solutions -- such as on-dock rail, use of low-sulfur diesel and reliance on low-emission trucks and diesel locomotives -- now are being closely watched by other U.S. ports.
Both the UP and BNSF Railroads that serve Southern California are increasing their track capacity. And the Federal economic stimulus infrastructure package is expected to boost various important highway and bridge projects in the immediate port trade road network.
The experts acknowledge that the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have many hungry competitors attempting to take their trade, especially U.S. Gulf Coast and East Coast ports acting now to exploit their future gains from the Panama Canal expansion to handle bigger ships now forced into the West Coast facilities.
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For more information or to submit story ideas contact:
Frank Conde
Director of Special Projects & Communications
North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc.
T 214.744.1018
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| JORGE CHAVEZ IS NEW NASCO MEXICO COMMITTEE PRESIDENT |
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MEXICO CITY - Jorge Luis Chavez, Director of Logistics for Mexico City-based Meridian 100, a privately owned Logistics Sites & Free Trade Zones Developer, has been selected as the next President of the NASCO Mexico Committee.
Chavez replaces Carlos Moreno Lopez, former Undersecretary of Industrial and Commercial Development of the state of Hidalgo, who resigned to take up a new administrative position on the Governor's staff.
Chavez, who also is a leader on the Logistics Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico (AmCham) in Mexico City, has been very active in NASCO Mexico Committee meetings, initiatives and projects and played a key role in NASCO's cargo tracking and tracing research project in North America.
Meridian 100° recently announced a 120 million dollar investment for the first stage of a major Logistics Free Trade Zone under development at Mexico's Port Laredo border zone across from Laredo, Texas, the second-busiest commercial border crossing point in North America after Detroit MI and Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
The Meridian FTZ site will offer state-of-the-art logistics infrastructure and a 24/7 direct access to the international bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a letter to the NASCO Board of Directors, Chavez wrote that his top priorities as the new President would include:
1. Consolidating the NASCO Mexico Committee structure to further encourage closer participation by its members, partners and supporters within clear-cut operational rules
2. Promoting partnerships with key Mexican national transport groups and industrial associations and other business and social groups that share the objectives of the NASCO mission to facilitate coordination and promotion of projects benefiting the security, efficiency and environment of the NASCO Corridor
3. Increasing the number and quality of members of the NASCO Mexico Committee
4. Further deepening NASCO ties to Mexico's Congress and Senate, and to Mexico state officials and administrations to advance the key initiatives of NASCO members in Mexico
6. Developing donations and sponsorships to help offset NASCO Mexico meetings and events
NASCO Board Chair George Blackwood noted that the selection process was the most active in the NASCO Mexico Committee history and underscored the unity of purpose and of commitment to organization objectives that is such a key part of the NASCO spirit.
He emphasized the hard work and unity so characteristic of the NASCO Mexico Committee is what makes it one of the most admired within the tri-national organization.
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| 2009 NASCO Conference |
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Hosted by the Province of Quebec
June 2-4, 2009
Centre des Congres de Quebec
Hilton Quebec Hotel
Join us at the 2009 NASCO Conference in historic Quebec City to learn about the latest developments and take part in discussions on North American trade and transportation.
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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION TRADE IN NAFTA ZONE IN MARCH DOWN FOR SIXTH MONTH IN A ROW |
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WASHINGTON - Trade among North American Free Trade Agreement partners using surface transportation fell for the sixth consecutive month in March.
It dived more than 27 percent for the third month in a row, according to a May 29 report by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The global recession knocked trade in March 2009 down 27.9 percent compared with March 2008.
The total value of goods transported by truck, rail and pipeline dropped to $51.1 billion.
The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico was 6.5 percent higher than in February 2009, but that month showed a 30.9 percent decline from the year before, 2009's steepest monthly decline.
The value of imports carried by truck was 26.8 percent lower in March 2009 compared to March 2008, while the value of exports carried by truck was 25.1 percent lower during this period.
U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $20 billion in March, down 15.1 percent compared to the month a year earlier.
The value of imports carried by truck was 15.5 percent lower in March 2009 than March 2008, while the value of exports carried by truck was 6.4 percent lower.
ANALYSIS - It's been the roughest six months, from March 2009 back, in the entire 15-year history of the North American Free Trade Agreement, economists report. The main culprit has been the freefall of the U.S. domestic economy since September 2008, brought on by a housing market crash, a stock market crash, a credit crunch and two straight quarters of U.S. GDP contractions of 6 pct of the U.S. economy. Mexico depends on the U.S. market for up to 80 pct of exports and it's almost the same for Canada. Meanwhile, each of those nations' domestic consumption also has collapsed, greatly reducing U.S. exports in their direction. Experts say we may look back at March 2009's NAFTA surface trade report as the bottom point of this trade freefall. U.S. consumer confidence polls indicate Americans are growing in the belief that the worst of the economic collapse is now behind the nation.
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| About NASCO |
 Since 1994, NASCO and its members have stood at the forefront of driving public and private sectors to unite to address strategically critical national and international trade, transportation, security and environmental issues. Our membership includes a diverse range of public and private partners from Mexico, the United States and Canada, extending along the International Corridor. | |
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