The Daily Breeze
By Phil Friedman, Correspondent
Punta Colonet is located 120 miles south of the Mexican border in Tijuana.
The drive there takes you through some of the most picturesque geography of northern Baja California. You will pass through Tijuana, Rosarito Beach, Ensenada, the Baja Wine Country and more.
Highway Mexico 1 will take you through breath-taking views of the Coronado Islands, sheer cliffs, fish taco stands and wonderfully warm Baja California people. Hugo Torres, Mayor of Rosarito Beach, has done everything in his power to make Rosarito safe. The fact is, despite the fact no tourists have been killed in Northern Baja, the 24-hour news cycle as well as other influences have made the drive to Baja less desirable.
I have driven to Cabo San Lucas five times in the last two years without incident and have hooked my two sons on the Baja experience. There is so much to love about a road trip to Baja but for my sons, it always comes down to the warm and friendly people of Baja.
There is another way to get to Punta Colonet. You can jump on a sportboat out of San Diego for the next several months and enjoy spectacular fishing.
Yes, you will miss the people and the drive but you will experience the rich and bountiful seas of Punta Colonet.
Mike Acker of Long Beach made the trip on the New Lo-An last weekend.
"This was as good as fishing as I have ever seen," Acker said.
"Huge lingcod, big red snapper, halibut and more," he continued. "If
you are into action and great eating fish then this is it."
Acker said from the time they arrived, it was constant action on a variety of fish. In fact, while Acker is not a big fan of bottom fishing, he soon became a convert.
"You only fish in about 200 feet of water so you feel the fight," he said. "Besides, these are some of the best, if not the best eating fish of the sea."
Nothing makes a better fish taco than a colonet red snapper. Deep fried and battered, the filet is put in a corn tortilla and then garnished with salsa, cilantro, onions, guacamole, sour cream and more. You talk about culinary ecstasy, this is it. Put some rice and beans on the side and you have a meal that your guests will remember for a long time to come.
Proper tackle on a colonet trip only requires a couple of outfits. A 25- and 40- pound outfit will be perfect. Eight- to 16-ounce sinkers are perfect along with 3-O hooks. Lingcod are another aggressive and delicious fish that are bountiful off Punta Colonet. Tagging studies show that lingcod are largely non-migratory and colonize in localized areas.
Lingcod live on the bottom, but may feed throughout the water column. And unlike many other bottom fish species like rockfish, lingcod do not have an air bladder, which enables them to freely swim up and down the water column without injury. Sport or commercial anglers can haul lingcod from depths of 500 feet or more to the surface and release them unharmed. Hard-fighting, great eating and yet another reason to head south of the border.
This Friday night, the Pacific Queen is departing from Fisherman's Landing in San Diego on a weekend trip to the rich waters of Colonet. The tips is priced at $250 with food and permits extra.
www.bajainvestment.com
Showing posts with label Punta Colonet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Punta Colonet. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, October 13, 2008
Baja port 'Punta Colonet' plan making gains
FREIGHT: Mexico has opened bidding on project that would siphon business from Long Beach, L.A.
By Kris Hanson, Staff writer
Article Launched: 10/13/2008 01:00:00 AM PDT
LONG BEACH - Nearly a year after announcing an ambitious plan to tap into the booming flow of trade between the U.S. West Coast and Asia, Mexican authorities have renewed a push to build a massive container port in Baja California.
The $5 billion project, proposed for a natural deep-water harbor near the small west coast fishing village of Punta Colonet about 275 miles south of Los Angeles, may one day compete with Long Beach and Los Angeles for a share of containerized freight.
In August, the Mexican government opened bidding for private development of port terminals and docks, and completed land-use and right-of-way negotiations with landowners in the area. They've also surveyed rail routes leading to the U.S. Southwest, and have organized a consortium of legal experts to help swiftly navigate trade, property and customs regulations.
Then, on Oct. 7, Mexico's Consul General in Los Angeles, Juan Marcos Gutierrez, participated in a panel discussion with port officials from Long Beach and Los Angeles to discuss the effort, and will be meeting with top West Coast port officials again this week at a retreat in Manzanillo, Mexico.
"This is the most ambitious infrastructure project of our time," Gutierrez said during the forum at Cal State Dominguez Hills. "It's something that's needed not only for Mexico, but for the regional economy."
Mexico believes that a port in Colonet would create up to 58,000 permanent jobs in Mexico, help upgrade the country's railway system and would, in turn, provide a cheaper, more efficient freight movement system for U.S. consumers and retailers.
It's expected that more than 95 percent of goods shipped to a Colonet port would be bound for the U.S. market via railway and through border crossings in Yuma, Arizona and El Paso, Texas.
Union Pacific, which controls an existing rail link along the Southwestern U.S. border, has been in talks with Mexico to participate in the project, but no deals have yet been signed.
As for marine terminal development and operation, at least one major international developer has expressed interest. Hutchinson Port Holdings, based in Hong Kong, is believed to be the project's most likely developer, but has yet to commit. Hutchinson could not be reached for comment, but Mexico is offering a 45-year terminal management concession to the highest bidder.
The Punta Colonet project, in the works for more than two years, seeks to capitalize on the estimated 30 million freight containers sent from Asia to North America annually - about 75 percent of which goes through ports in California, Washington and Oregon.
Port would serve U.S. market
Mexico's goal is to capture about 6 million containers annually at Punta Colonet, then ship them via rail to points within the U.S. Very little of the cargo would be destined for Mexico's domestic market, which is served primarily by ports in Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas.
The Baja port is the latest challenge to Long Beach-Los Angeles' longtime role as America's busiest and most lucrative seaport. The twin ports currently handle more than $350 billion worth of cargo annually, a figure representing about 30 percent of the nation's maritime trade worth.
Competition grows
The ports are already being challenged by a new container port in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, expansions in Tacoma, Washington and Oakland, California and a modernized Hampton Roads in southeast Virginia. In addition, the expansion of the Panama Canal - now under way - allows passage for larger container ships from Asia to ports in the Gulf.
But there remain cost and time-prohibitive barriers for sending Asia-originated freight through the Panama Canal. It takes an average 21 days to ship cargo from China to the U.S. East Coast, but only 12 to the West Coast. With high energy costs, the extra nine days at sea makes much such trade prohibitive.
By building an alternative western port and offering cheaper labor and less costly tariffs, Mexico hopes to lure shippers whose goods would have passed through California or the Panama Canal and destined for the American Midwest.
"The market we're (trying for) is east of the Rockies," said Gutierrez. "It's a share of that 45 percent or so of freight that (Long Beach-Los Angeles) carry that is headed inland."
Professor Kaye Bragg, a Cal State Dominguez Hills economics professor, said the Punta Colonet proposal only makes sense if projections of growth are on the mark. Based on 20-year trends, economists expect the volume of containerized goods between Asia and Long Beach-Los Angeles to surpass 36 million 24-equivalent containers, or TEUs, by 2020.
Therefore, if Punta Colonet siphons six million TEUs from Long Beach-Los Angeles, it represents only a share of future growth, and not a chunk of current volume - potentially making competition less hostile and more collaborative.
Don Snyder, the Long Beach port's trade relations director, said that although labor costs and regulatory pressures will likely be less in Mexico, developers will need to recoup their investment costs, which may drive up transportation and dockage prices to levels comparable in Southern California.
"Someone's going to have to amortize the cost of building that rail track, building those terminals, building the infrastructure," Snyder said. "When you add those costs in, plus the transportation costs of using U.S. rail inside the States, is there a great savings?"
Long Beach Harbor Commissioner Mario Cordero, who visits Mexico this week to discuss regional trade, says projects like Punta Colonet represent the competitive realities of global trade.
"Everybody is developing megaports ... you see it in Asia, Europe, South America," Cordero said. "People are looking for their share. The difference this time is we have a big project being developed next door."
Snyder sees it as a stimulus to continue improving local port facilities and transportation links.
"Competition is a good thing because it keeps everyone sharp," Snyder said. "Our goal is to have the most efficient supply chain and be a leader in terms of helping introduce technologies that save fuel, pollute less and make the most economic sense for our customers."
Gustavo Torres
gustavotorres@remax.net
1-866-588-2252
www.remax-baja.com
By Kris Hanson, Staff writer
Article Launched: 10/13/2008 01:00:00 AM PDT
LONG BEACH - Nearly a year after announcing an ambitious plan to tap into the booming flow of trade between the U.S. West Coast and Asia, Mexican authorities have renewed a push to build a massive container port in Baja California.
The $5 billion project, proposed for a natural deep-water harbor near the small west coast fishing village of Punta Colonet about 275 miles south of Los Angeles, may one day compete with Long Beach and Los Angeles for a share of containerized freight.
In August, the Mexican government opened bidding for private development of port terminals and docks, and completed land-use and right-of-way negotiations with landowners in the area. They've also surveyed rail routes leading to the U.S. Southwest, and have organized a consortium of legal experts to help swiftly navigate trade, property and customs regulations.
Then, on Oct. 7, Mexico's Consul General in Los Angeles, Juan Marcos Gutierrez, participated in a panel discussion with port officials from Long Beach and Los Angeles to discuss the effort, and will be meeting with top West Coast port officials again this week at a retreat in Manzanillo, Mexico.
"This is the most ambitious infrastructure project of our time," Gutierrez said during the forum at Cal State Dominguez Hills. "It's something that's needed not only for Mexico, but for the regional economy."
Mexico believes that a port in Colonet would create up to 58,000 permanent jobs in Mexico, help upgrade the country's railway system and would, in turn, provide a cheaper, more efficient freight movement system for U.S. consumers and retailers.
It's expected that more than 95 percent of goods shipped to a Colonet port would be bound for the U.S. market via railway and through border crossings in Yuma, Arizona and El Paso, Texas.
Union Pacific, which controls an existing rail link along the Southwestern U.S. border, has been in talks with Mexico to participate in the project, but no deals have yet been signed.
As for marine terminal development and operation, at least one major international developer has expressed interest. Hutchinson Port Holdings, based in Hong Kong, is believed to be the project's most likely developer, but has yet to commit. Hutchinson could not be reached for comment, but Mexico is offering a 45-year terminal management concession to the highest bidder.
The Punta Colonet project, in the works for more than two years, seeks to capitalize on the estimated 30 million freight containers sent from Asia to North America annually - about 75 percent of which goes through ports in California, Washington and Oregon.
Port would serve U.S. market
Mexico's goal is to capture about 6 million containers annually at Punta Colonet, then ship them via rail to points within the U.S. Very little of the cargo would be destined for Mexico's domestic market, which is served primarily by ports in Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas.
The Baja port is the latest challenge to Long Beach-Los Angeles' longtime role as America's busiest and most lucrative seaport. The twin ports currently handle more than $350 billion worth of cargo annually, a figure representing about 30 percent of the nation's maritime trade worth.
Competition grows
The ports are already being challenged by a new container port in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, expansions in Tacoma, Washington and Oakland, California and a modernized Hampton Roads in southeast Virginia. In addition, the expansion of the Panama Canal - now under way - allows passage for larger container ships from Asia to ports in the Gulf.
But there remain cost and time-prohibitive barriers for sending Asia-originated freight through the Panama Canal. It takes an average 21 days to ship cargo from China to the U.S. East Coast, but only 12 to the West Coast. With high energy costs, the extra nine days at sea makes much such trade prohibitive.
By building an alternative western port and offering cheaper labor and less costly tariffs, Mexico hopes to lure shippers whose goods would have passed through California or the Panama Canal and destined for the American Midwest.
"The market we're (trying for) is east of the Rockies," said Gutierrez. "It's a share of that 45 percent or so of freight that (Long Beach-Los Angeles) carry that is headed inland."
Professor Kaye Bragg, a Cal State Dominguez Hills economics professor, said the Punta Colonet proposal only makes sense if projections of growth are on the mark. Based on 20-year trends, economists expect the volume of containerized goods between Asia and Long Beach-Los Angeles to surpass 36 million 24-equivalent containers, or TEUs, by 2020.
Therefore, if Punta Colonet siphons six million TEUs from Long Beach-Los Angeles, it represents only a share of future growth, and not a chunk of current volume - potentially making competition less hostile and more collaborative.
Don Snyder, the Long Beach port's trade relations director, said that although labor costs and regulatory pressures will likely be less in Mexico, developers will need to recoup their investment costs, which may drive up transportation and dockage prices to levels comparable in Southern California.
"Someone's going to have to amortize the cost of building that rail track, building those terminals, building the infrastructure," Snyder said. "When you add those costs in, plus the transportation costs of using U.S. rail inside the States, is there a great savings?"
Long Beach Harbor Commissioner Mario Cordero, who visits Mexico this week to discuss regional trade, says projects like Punta Colonet represent the competitive realities of global trade.
"Everybody is developing megaports ... you see it in Asia, Europe, South America," Cordero said. "People are looking for their share. The difference this time is we have a big project being developed next door."
Snyder sees it as a stimulus to continue improving local port facilities and transportation links.
"Competition is a good thing because it keeps everyone sharp," Snyder said. "Our goal is to have the most efficient supply chain and be a leader in terms of helping introduce technologies that save fuel, pollute less and make the most economic sense for our customers."
Gustavo Torres
gustavotorres@remax.net
1-866-588-2252
www.remax-baja.com
Friday, August 29, 2008
Mexico to build port in Baja to serve U.S.
(08-29) 04:00 PDT Ensenada, Mexico -- President Felipe Calderon opened bidding Thursday for construction of a huge new seaport that could eventually compete with Los Angeles-Long Beach, the largest port complex in the United States.
Mexico's $5 billion Punta Colonet project would transform a wind-swept bay 150 miles south of the U.S. border into a booming port city, creating an estimated 80,000 jobs, drawing freighters from Asia and funneling manufactured goods north.
"We're looking to be sure we don't fall behind in making Mexico a strategic logistics platform for trade and global investment," Calderon said while touring the foggy beach where the port will stand.
A planned railroad would link Punta Colonet to the United States, allowing freight to skip Southern California traffic and head directly to points across the Midwestern United States, including Chicago. Planners have yet to determine where the tracks would cross the border - although El Paso, Texas, and Yuma and Nogales, Ariz., have been mentioned.
The port would be the largest infrastructure project of Calderon's administration, which has pledged hundreds of millions of government dollars for highways, railroads and airports in the last year in an effort to create jobs and pump cash into Mexico, even as the world economy slows.
At Punta Colonet, however, Calderon is seeking private bidders to build the port and accompanying railroad before running it on a 45-year lease.
The bidding should conclude late next year, and the port should start operating in 2012, said Jose Rubio, project director for Mexico's Baja California state, which is working with the federal government to develop the port.
By 2020, the port should be able to annually handle 6 million TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent units, a measurement used to estimate container traffic - more than double the nation's current freight capacity, Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez said.
Los Angeles and Long Beach processed a combined 15 million TEUs in 2007 - 40 percent of all freight entering the United States, including 80 percent of imports from Asia.
Punta Colonet is one of several competitors to Los Angeles and Long Beach. A massive expansion at Canada's northern Prince Rupert Port will also use rail to move goods to U.S. markets. and a $5 billion expansion of the Panama Canal will make it easier for Asian freight to reach Miami, Atlanta and other southeastern U.S. cities.
www.bajainvestment.com
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Mexico plans huge Baja port for U.S. trade
President Calderon will open bidding for infrastructure contracts Thursday. The project is likely to transform the village of Punta Colonet.
By Marla Dickerson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 28, 2008
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's government is setting sail with the largest infrastructure project in the nation's history, a $4-billion seaport that it hopes will one day rival those of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
President Felipe Calderon is scheduled to travel to northern Baja California today to open bidding on a development that his administration hopes will catapult Mexico into a major player in North American logistics.
Plans call for the construction of a massive port in the tiny coastal village of Punta Colonet, about 150 miles south of Tijuana, along with new rail lines to whisk Asian-made goods north to the United States. Mexico's aim is to snatch some Pacific cargo traffic from Southern California's ports, whose growth is constrained by urban development and environmental concerns.
Punta Colonet is expected to have a capacity of 2 million shipping containers annually when it opens in 2014, Mexico's transportation secretariat told The Times But officials envision it ultimately handling five times that amount. Last year, the ports of L.A. and Long Beach handled 15.7 million containers combined.
The massive development is to be privately funded, with the first phase estimated to cost $4 billion to $5 billion. The government is expected to award the 45-year concession in 2009.
A number of major players are expected to vie for the project, including Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, the world's second-richest man. Slim's infrastructure company, known as Ideal, has teamed with Mexican mining and railroad giant Grupo Mexico and New Jersey-based terminal operator Ports America Group to make a run at the deal.
"We've spent a lot of years working on this," said Miguel Favela, head of Mexican operations for Ports America. "It's going to make Mexico . . . much more competitive. "
About 30 million shipping containers crossed the Pacific Ocean last year, a flow that increased about 10% annually in the last decade. A weak U.S. economy has slowed the trade, but experts predict it will rebound.
With shippers increasingly worried about congestion at L.A.-Long Beach, Punta Colonet has emerged as an attractive alternative. It's close to the United States. It possesses a wide, natural harbor. And it's in a lightly populated area offering room for expansion.
When Calderon visits the dusty hamlet of about 2,500 people today, he is expected to talk about the big changes in store. The village will need extensive upgrades to its roads, housing, electrical grid and water supply. State and local officials are planning for a city of about 200,000 to spring up around the port.
The changes envisioned are alarming environmentalists, who worry about the potential destruction of the area's plants and wildlife. But the farmers who scratch out a living there are thrilled at the prospect.
"What we need is employment for our kids," said Jesus Lara, representative of several peasant landowner groups that are eager to sell. "Everyone is excited. Having the president come to your town is like winning the Lotto."
But whether Punta Colonet turns out to be lucrative for Mexico won't be known for years. Competitors up and down the Pacific coast are in the midst of major upgrades. Panama has begun a $5.3-billion expansion of its landmark canal. Canada's Prince Rupert port in British Columbia began speeding containers to the American heartland by rail last year and is planning a major expansion.
Little of the cargo bound for Punta Colonet will stay in Mexico, making the port vulnerable to the whims of shippers, who can choose other routes to the U.S.
"Nothing is guaranteed," said Asaf Ashar, research professor with the National Ports and Waterways Institute in Washington. "It's a big risk."
Building a seaport from scratch would be difficult enough. But the overland transportation piece is likely to make or break Punta Colonet. The deal is being structured as a joint port-and-rail project, requiring terminal operators, railroads and construction companies to team up in consortia to win the bid. The railroad's ultimate route and U.S. crossing points will depend on which railway operator is chosen and how it manages to link up with existing rail networks on both sides of the border.
Union Pacific Corp. of Omaha and Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway Co. control the U.S. side of the tracks at most of the key U.S.-Mexico border crossings. Striking a deal with one of those companies to get the cargo to the American side will be crucial, said Paul Bingham, managing director of the global trade and transportation practice for Global Insight, a Massachusetts- based consulting firm.
"They have the ability to essentially choke off that port," Bingham said.
BNSF spokesman Patrick Hiatte said Wednesday that the company was "very interested" in the Punta Colonet project. He declined to say with whom the firm might collaborate to make a bid.
Union Pacific could not be reached for comment. The company earlier had teamed with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings to make a run at the project, but that alliance dissolved last year.
From www.bajainvestment.com
By Marla Dickerson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 28, 2008
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's government is setting sail with the largest infrastructure project in the nation's history, a $4-billion seaport that it hopes will one day rival those of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
President Felipe Calderon is scheduled to travel to northern Baja California today to open bidding on a development that his administration hopes will catapult Mexico into a major player in North American logistics.
Plans call for the construction of a massive port in the tiny coastal village of Punta Colonet, about 150 miles south of Tijuana, along with new rail lines to whisk Asian-made goods north to the United States. Mexico's aim is to snatch some Pacific cargo traffic from Southern California's ports, whose growth is constrained by urban development and environmental concerns.
Punta Colonet is expected to have a capacity of 2 million shipping containers annually when it opens in 2014, Mexico's transportation secretariat told The Times But officials envision it ultimately handling five times that amount. Last year, the ports of L.A. and Long Beach handled 15.7 million containers combined.
The massive development is to be privately funded, with the first phase estimated to cost $4 billion to $5 billion. The government is expected to award the 45-year concession in 2009.
A number of major players are expected to vie for the project, including Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, the world's second-richest man. Slim's infrastructure company, known as Ideal, has teamed with Mexican mining and railroad giant Grupo Mexico and New Jersey-based terminal operator Ports America Group to make a run at the deal.
"We've spent a lot of years working on this," said Miguel Favela, head of Mexican operations for Ports America. "It's going to make Mexico . . . much more competitive. "
About 30 million shipping containers crossed the Pacific Ocean last year, a flow that increased about 10% annually in the last decade. A weak U.S. economy has slowed the trade, but experts predict it will rebound.
With shippers increasingly worried about congestion at L.A.-Long Beach, Punta Colonet has emerged as an attractive alternative. It's close to the United States. It possesses a wide, natural harbor. And it's in a lightly populated area offering room for expansion.
When Calderon visits the dusty hamlet of about 2,500 people today, he is expected to talk about the big changes in store. The village will need extensive upgrades to its roads, housing, electrical grid and water supply. State and local officials are planning for a city of about 200,000 to spring up around the port.
The changes envisioned are alarming environmentalists, who worry about the potential destruction of the area's plants and wildlife. But the farmers who scratch out a living there are thrilled at the prospect.
"What we need is employment for our kids," said Jesus Lara, representative of several peasant landowner groups that are eager to sell. "Everyone is excited. Having the president come to your town is like winning the Lotto."
But whether Punta Colonet turns out to be lucrative for Mexico won't be known for years. Competitors up and down the Pacific coast are in the midst of major upgrades. Panama has begun a $5.3-billion expansion of its landmark canal. Canada's Prince Rupert port in British Columbia began speeding containers to the American heartland by rail last year and is planning a major expansion.
Little of the cargo bound for Punta Colonet will stay in Mexico, making the port vulnerable to the whims of shippers, who can choose other routes to the U.S.
"Nothing is guaranteed," said Asaf Ashar, research professor with the National Ports and Waterways Institute in Washington. "It's a big risk."
Building a seaport from scratch would be difficult enough. But the overland transportation piece is likely to make or break Punta Colonet. The deal is being structured as a joint port-and-rail project, requiring terminal operators, railroads and construction companies to team up in consortia to win the bid. The railroad's ultimate route and U.S. crossing points will depend on which railway operator is chosen and how it manages to link up with existing rail networks on both sides of the border.
Union Pacific Corp. of Omaha and Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway Co. control the U.S. side of the tracks at most of the key U.S.-Mexico border crossings. Striking a deal with one of those companies to get the cargo to the American side will be crucial, said Paul Bingham, managing director of the global trade and transportation practice for Global Insight, a Massachusetts- based consulting firm.
"They have the ability to essentially choke off that port," Bingham said.
BNSF spokesman Patrick Hiatte said Wednesday that the company was "very interested" in the Punta Colonet project. He declined to say with whom the firm might collaborate to make a bid.
Union Pacific could not be reached for comment. The company earlier had teamed with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings to make a run at the project, but that alliance dissolved last year.
From www.bajainvestment.com
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