Page 53: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 1994)

Mexican Officials Detail

Governments Plan To

Privatize Its Ports

On March 14 in Dallas, eight officials and experts in Mexico's Port

Privatization Program participated in the Second Annual Privatization

Summit: Opportunities in Mexico's

Ports Sector. Sponsored by The

Mexican Port Authority, The Mexi- can Investment Board and the Na- tional Council for Public-Private

Partnerships, the day-long confer- ence attracted more than 200 top business leaders from the U.S. and abroad, providing a platform for the

Mexican government to describe in detail its new initiative to privatize the country's ports.

The conference provided a broad overview of Mexico's Port

Privatization Program, followed by a detailed description of specific con- tracts - all delivered by the Mexican government officials directly respon- sible for the projects. The three primary goals of the conference were to help the Mexican government remove any obstacles to an open and efficient privatization of the country's ports; to provide detailed information on the specific opportu- nities available to foreign investors in this area; and to create a dialogue between key U.S. executives and the appropriate Mexican officials and business leaders from the ports sector.

During the last six years, the

Salinas Administration has mod- ernized 18 principal ports, through which 80 percent of the country's imports and exports pass. The Mexi- can government intends to com- pletely restructure the country's ports system, decentralize The Mexi- can Port Authority and privatize all of its ports. The Mexican govern- ment recently enacted new legisla- tion, The Law of Ports, which rede- fines the State's role in the running of the country's ports. The legisla- tion also creates private authority corporations, known as "Integrated

Ports Administrations" (APIs), which will be charged with the ad- ministration functions including planning, promotion and the con- struction of infrastructure.

Mexico's port terminals and in- stallations will be leased on a long term basis to the highest bidder through international public ten- ders. Foreign capital will be limited to 49 percent in the APIs, but may reach 100 percent in all other port investments.

Japan's Export Orders

Dominated By Handymax

Bulk Carriers

Japan received 10 export orders of 190,000-gt in January 1994, ac- cording to figures released by the

Japan Ship Exporters Association.

January's orders are dominated by orders for handymax bulk carriers and other small-size ships. The market for export ships at the start of the year continues to be poor.

In January 1994, Japan received orders for one product carrier, one container ship, two general cargo carriers, and six handymax bulk carriers.

To date, Japan has received or- ders for 153 ships of 5.5 million gt.

Four percent of those ships on order were scheduled for completion in

FY '93; about 60 percent are sched- uled for completion in FY '94; about 30 percent for FY '95; and about six percent are scheduled for comple- tion in FY '96.

MarAd Awards $9 Million

Contract To Eastern Technical

The Maritime Administration has awarded a $9,469,069 contract to Eastern Technical Enterprises,

Inc., Norfolk, Va., for repairing and converting the Naval survey ship

USNS Harkness to a training ship for the Maine Maritime Academy.

It is to replace the Maine Maritime

Academy's State of Maine.

The conversion work on the ves- sel will include the addition of a new deckhouse to accommodate 72 ca- dets and new machinery space for a new distiller and two marine sanita- tion devices. Modifications will also be made to the air conditioning sys- tem and additional structural fire protection added for U.S. Coast

Guard certification. The work will be performed at the Brooklyn Navy

Yard and is expected to be com- pleted within 11 months.

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Circle 342 on Reader Service Card

April, 1994 39