Work on TEC2 in Lazaro Cardenas ready to start

For the Port Authority of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, (APILAC), the second container terminal awarded to APM Terminals is a reality and in a couple of weeks work should begin to dissipate doubts.

Ruben Gonzalez Medina, the head of APILAC, explained that the subject of the dispute (between Hutchison and APM Terminals) “will continue airing in some courts, but that legal reason shall be asserted at the time.”

Gonzalez Medina said he has all the legal certainty, as has the investor, to begin already with the construction.”

The Secretary of Communications and Transport said “I think that by the end of the year we will already be seeing the investment of $900 million for this first phase of TEC II.”

He confirmed that the contract is signed and said he has the legal arguments that give certainty and viability to this project.

“With this project we will see the development of a third stage of the Mexican port and the city itself. “Lázaro Cárdenas has seen the arrival of the first container terminal in just seven years and now has an annual growth of more than 40% in the movement, and with the project of the new terminal we can predict that in the next four or five years we will duplicate the million and a half containers which we may do in a couple of years”.

The CEO of APILAC said Hutchison knew that this time there would be bidding for a new container terminal and that there would be competition. “You can not have your cake forever, plus they have a concession for 30 years, a period sufficient to recover their investment,” he said.