MISSION, Texas - Teclo Garcia, the CEO of Mission Economic Development Corporation, has explained his group’s plans to market Anzalduas International Bridge within Mexico.
Mission is going to focus on cities further south than Monterrey, such as San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Aguascalientes.
The reason for this, Garcia said, is because Laredo and Monterrey are so closely aligned.
At a commercialization and investment tour hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, Garcia said he and some of his team recently participated in a trade mission to San Luis Potosí.
“We chose San Luis because of the relationship that Laredo already has established with Monterey. I've met with Governor Garcia at least three times. I know his his right hand guy for national trade and his team and they're not unfriendly. I'm just saying that's just what they're doing; they’re using Laredo. So let's try to find something else,” Garcia said.
“San Luis is a little bit further south. But they know that Laredo is packed and they don't have any more space. They (Laredo) want to build another bridge, actually two more bridges, one on the south side, one on the north side. But that's going to take a decade to get done.
“So what does San Luis and Querétaro and Aguascalientes and all those other cities supposed to do in the meantime? We can provide an alternative for them.”
Garcia pointed out that Anzalduas International Bridge will be able to take fully loaded trucks north and south bound in the not too distant future.
“We're very focused on this as an effort going forward,” Garcia said, referring to the promotion of the bridge, which Mission co-owns with the cities of McAllen and Hidalgo. “This is something that the (Mission EDC) board (of directors) has directed us to do and it's exactly what we want to do.”
Garcia said it takes a lot of planning to develop a strategy for international trade.
"We're beginning to market ourselves in Mexico. We've been to San Luis. We go back in December. We have a tentative trip plan to Monterrey with the American Chamber. But this is kind of how we're looking at it and I don't mind sharing this. Look, Laredo has Monterey and Monterey has Laredo. That's their partner. They're tied (with) that symbiotic relationship. Laredo has four bridges. I worked there for three years. I kind of get Laredo. They even have a Tesla lane at one of their bridges already dedicated to Tesla so they can bring stuff up from Monterrey. But, it's closer to Monterey. The systems are there for trucks to move through through Laredo.”
Garcia acknowledged that the Rio Grande Valley get trucks from Monterrey.
“And that's because Laredo is saturated. They're moving sometimes close to 20,000 trucks a day. Just to give you an idea, Pharr might move, I think the number is, like, 5,000 trucks a day, or 20,000 trucks per week. But they (Laredo) are doing 20,000 a day. And they do it for six days a week. And so that's nothing to play around with. They're the busiest port, air, water or land port in the country. And in North America for that matter. So that's how busy they are. And they're making a lot of money. They don't have a lock on the business, but they have a really big part of the transportation business.”
Garcia said that unlike Pharr International Bridge, Anzalduas would not focus on fresh produce as a commodity to cross. He said Anzalduas is more interested in dry goods coming up from places such as San Luis Potosí. He noted that this city has a population of about 800,000 people.
“They've got they've got the only BMW plant in Latin America. They have the Latin American largest Goodyear plant. They have a GM plant, a Cummins diesel plant. They get a lot of stuff and if you drive around town, you'll see the prosperity.”
Here is an audio recording of Teclo Garcia’s full speech to the RGV Partnership:
