The issues and traffic jams that the drought has caused for the Panama Canal have seen revived interest in Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec's Interoceanic Corridor (CIIT) project. The CIIT aims to connect the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean in southeastern Mexico by combining railway, port, airport, and road infrastructures. It's a connection that will focus on the transfer of goods.
The project, however, is not new. In the nineteenth century, Mexico offered the passage of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the United States. In fact, at the beginning of the twentieth century, up to 60 trains a day traveled the isthmus from coast to coast, arriving or departing from the new ports of Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos. However, the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 relegated the commitment to transport goods via Tehuantepec.
Today, the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is a public, legal entity, decentralized body that has its own assets. It was created in 2019 by the decree of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador with the aim of becoming such a fast and efficient way to transport goods so that it could compete with the Panama Canal. Lopez Obrador himself inaugurated the freight rail line in September.
An alternative for Mexico and a potential threat to Panama
Last September, Ricaute Vasquez, administrator of the Canal, acknowledged that, in the face of the water issues they were having, "the Mexican solution could definitely be a potential threat to the Canal".
According to the general director of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Rafael Marín Mollinedo, all the works of the CIIT -which will attract investments of 200,000 million dollars and will generate 550,000 jobs by 2050- will be ready before the end of the López Obrador Government (September 2024). At least that's what the Mexican government expects.
Source: 20minutos.es