Ports & Infrastructure

10 Things to Know About Baja California and the Baja Norte Ports

By Peter Hurme

For those of you who have considered doing cargo business in Baja California and the Baja Norte ports, here are a few facts you should know:

1 The California–Baja California region is the eighth largest economy in the world.

2 It has 310,000 industrial workers.

3 It has the third highest education level in Mexico — with 70 percent of Baja’s     budget invested in education.

4 There are three U.S. border crossings — Tijuana, Tecate, Mexicali.

5 There are 64 industrial parks and zones.

6 The growth sectors include aerospace, automotive, electronics and medical devices.

7 The proposed Punta Colonet Port project has up to 1,851 acres, capacity for 18-50     berths at 1,300 feet each, rail terminal capacity for up to 56 trains and construction     budgets of $1.73 billion for the port and $450 million for the first phase of the     railroad.

8 The Port of Ensenada is projected to expand to a 400,000-TEU capacity.

9 Port of Ensenada shipper customers include Ford, Mattel, Panasonic and Samsung.

10 There has been a $120-million preliminary investment projection to build the       proposed Tecate–Ensenada Rail project with more than 93,000 railcars and more       than $56 million of gross sales projected over the first seven years of the rail       system.