Mexico outlines record FDI acquisition in transport in 2022

Mexico attracted 4,495 million dollars in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows in the transport, postal and storage sector during the first half of 2022, which represents a year-on-year increase of 89.7% and a record, even considering complete years.

Mario Veraldo, general director of MTM Logix, projected that Mexico will strengthen as a relevant platform in the global supply chain, considering its current logistics base and the relocation of companies to North America from Asia.

The previous record high in attracting FDI in the transport, postal and storage sector was reached in 2017, when arrivals in Mexico totaled 3.485 million dollars.

The next two full years with the most FDI attraction were 2020 and 2021, with 2,857 and 3,134 million dollars, respectively.

Veraldo, former head of Maersk Mexico and former commercial director of Maersk East Coast South America, pointed out that Mexico has opportunities to make land trade by road more efficient, in which some 12 million trucks cross the border between Mexico and the United States each year. Joined; increase maritime transport connected with the United States, and improve logistics through the interoceanic corridor in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

With this intermodal project, Mexico tries to position itself as a new competitor in the region, taking advantage of the position of the Isthmus to offer a new route between Asia and the east coast of the United States. According to the Mexican government, 51% of the cost of the project was financed with public funds.

As part of the new logistics investments in Mexico, the institutional investor firm VCM Global Asset Management, with more than $1 billion in assets under management, reported last Thursday that it had invested in the digital supply chain provider MTM Logix, without specifying the amount, but involving several million dollars.

MTM Logix offers customers a single, all-in-one-stop solution, centralizing their logistics management and simplifying their processes, including order and contract management, container visibility, factory visibility, and shipments. distributors, and the performance of agents and shipping companies, among other services.

With the advancement of new technologies and the use of big data tools, Veraldo considered that the detection of new commercial routes that replace part of land transport by road in Mexico is imminent, giving as an example the potential that exists between Mexican ports in the Atlantic and the ports of Texas and Miami.

logistics goal

Mexico’s goal is to create a sustainable, competitive, and multimodal transportation system to lower costs and provide more and better connectivity to production and consumption centers. This is intended to reactivate local economies and integrate isolated and economically and socially marginalized communities and areas.

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec corridor entails several works to rehabilitate, modernize and expand the rail and highway network, and the region’s ports, including the development of specialized container terminals.

Likewise, it is planned to establish industrial parks (“development poles”), which will have incentives to attract investment projects in logistics and activities related to agribusiness, manufacturing, energy and services.

roberto.morales@eleconomista.mx