MORELIA, Mexico – Trains are again running on the Kansas Southern de Mexico mainline to the port of Lázaro Cárdenas following a shutdown this week due to civil unrest.
“The mainline is now cleared of protestors and while we remain cautiously optimistic that the mainline will remain clear, in matters of civil protests, risk remains as they are not in our control. We will be monitoring the situation closely,” KCS officials say.
Lázaro Cárdenas is in the Mexican state of Michoacán, where unrest stemming from student protests, striking teachers, and drug cartel problems have caused three earlier 2019 service disruptions, one of which was last week.
Doing business in a 3rd world country with little to no support is not good for the bottom line, the employees, the equipment, and the customers. The violence I have witnessed there is appalling, with no police effort.
Businesses that invest in countries where nationalizations have occurred do so at their own peril. No sympathy for KCS on this one…
Okay, so it is over government corruption related to the drug war in that part of the world. Phew. No surprise there. This is why KCS ought to pull out of Mexico while there’s still time. I mean, they still own a few railroad cars of their own, so given how unstable it is south of the border nowadays with the drug wars and violence in general as well as the corrupt dictatorships that have arisen how could they not be apprehensive if Ferromex bought out KCS de Mexico in a hostile takeover deal and/or the Mexican government re-nationalized the railroad and thus their railroad cars still in that part of the world that bear either “KCS” or KCSM” markings (or both) got nationalized, bought out, or both?