The Los Mochis Ecological Industrial Park on Mexico’s
Pacific coast is more than 1,200 miles from Atlanta, but the number of
travelers between the city of Los Mochis and Atlanta is growing.
Most recently, Arnoldo Martinez Cantu, general manager of
the park, visited Atlanta to encourage local businesses to consider
establishing facilities in the park, and escape the growing congestion of the
maquiladora operations on the U.S./Mexican border.
At a meeting in the offices of the Mexican Trade
Commission here Sept. 11, Mr. Cantu highlighted the transportation links from
Los Mochis to both the East and West Coasts, the multinational companies that
already are on the premises including Ford, Chrysler, Samsung and General
Electric and the proximity of the port of Topolobampo which is benefiting from
growing trade with Asian countries.
Three of Mexico’s leading financial powerhouses – Grupo
Ceres, FINSA-Grupo Arguelles and Grupo Bustamente – joined together in a joint
venture entitled DISSA (Desarrollo Industrial Sinaloa, S.A. de C.V.) in 1991
and created the master plan for the park’s development on 150 acres.
Aside from having to pay workers lower wages ($1 an
hour) and less for operating space (33 cents per square foot) than industrial
parks along the border, the Los Mochis park provides administrative services at
fixed costs – “an important factor to consider in Mexico,” Mr. Cantu told the
dozen participants in the meeting.
But the raw financial details should only be part of a
foreign investor’s decision to consider the park, he added. The park is located
in the El Fuerte Valley, one of the richest farming valleys in Mexico, and the
area has a long tradition of exporting agricultural produce.
For more information about the park, Mr. Cantu may be
reached in Mexico at tel: (618) 8 53 28; fax, (681) 8 53 58. The number of
the Mexican Trade Commission is (404) 522-5373.