The railway blockade in the community of Puente Colorada, located in Chapulco, Puebla, which is now 18 days old, has left a loss of more than 1.5 billion pesos, causing the affected industries to look for alternatives such as road transport to move their products, despite the extra costs. However, if it continues, it would cause certain companies to stop their production.
The Association of Industrialists of Southern Veracruz (AIEVAC) confirmed losses of more than 160 million pesos , due to the fact that more than 60 thousand tons have been seized.
“We are very concerned about the situation at the railway crossing, which is definitely causing havoc in the production and transportation of chemicals and petrochemicals that are distributed to the center, Bajío and the north, where Veracruz industrialists supply raw materials for the manufacturing sector,” Sergio Plata, president of the organization, told T21.
He explained that there are some products that can be moved by road transport , however, there are additional costs since instead of moving a hopper with a capacity of 90 tons, three tractor-trailers are used.
“But there are products that cannot be transported by this route; they must be transported by rail for safety reasons, and if we do not have the rail crossing, there are plants that are days away from having to stop their operations, which means greater economic losses for the companies,” he said.
However, he commented that there are companies that are already using auto transport , but with additional costs and reducing the competitiveness of the area, as well as the promotion of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT).
“We are looking to develop a project like the Interoceanic Corridor here in the south of Veracruz, where one of the logistics methods is rail transport, because it will reduce competitiveness and make investors nervous about making the investments we are looking for them to make. We as industrialists are promoting the corridor, but with these scenarios it is difficult for them to take this region into consideration,” he said.
Meanwhile, Felipe de Javier Peña Dueñas, president of the National Council for the Supply of Grains and Oilseeds (Conago), said that there are more than 100 thousand tons of grain pending mobilization , despite the fact that products have been transported through road transport and other means.
“Ships have continued to arrive, we have two ships anchored that must have around 70 thousand tons that are also waiting to be docked in order to be able to connect, so this leads to a very significant impact. We do have a very big difficulty in terms of supply and it is not just a matter of cost overruns,” he said.
He mentioned that according to Concamin , between 85 and 86 million pesos are lost per day , so the loss reaches more than 1,500 million pesos , in addition to the extra costs and the logistical difficulty to supply human and animal consumption.
He explained that logistical availability “is not something you have on the corner” to replace it, this, because the problem of changing a hopper for a truck, “is no longer a matter of extra costs but rather the exhaustion of possibilities.”
He also mentioned that the nearest ports do not have rail connectivity , so the option is road transport, but if the blockade continues they will have to look for other logistical options.
Sergio Plata mentioned that they are aware that the government of Puebla has already taken the corresponding actions in certain requests from the community . However, “there are others that definitely do not fall within the scope, nor within the capacity to be provided by the government and, in a certain way, they do not have a reason for being.”
For this reason , he reiterated the need to enforce the rule of law , while calling on the residents of Puente Colorada to take this claim to a negotiating table with the federal and state governments to allow the free movement of goods.
“Otherwise, we will have to stop production in some petrochemical plants whose products cannot be transported by any means other than rail, and that would have an even greater impact on the national economy, since this industry contributes 7% to the GDP of the state of Veracruz, and 1.2% to the national GDP, so it will undoubtedly have a serious impact,” he said.
The National Chamber of Cement (Canacem) indicated to this media that the estimated impact on the sector is approximately five thousand tons per day.
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