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KANSAS CITY -- Mexico is expanding plans to improve its ports so they can handle growing trade with Asia that now is clogging ports in California.

The latest proposal involves Punta Colonet, a sparsely populated, wind-blown bay on the Baja Peninsula 150 miles south of the U.S. border.

Mexican officials in coming weeks plan to study the feasibility of turning Punta Colonet into a superport on par with facilities at Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest western port complex in North America.

Lazaro Cardenas is Mexico's deepest port, and Hutchison Port Holdings, the world's largest independent port operator, plans to pump about $200 million into expanding container ship capacity there.

"We are ready. The port is ready," said Hector Carranza, business director for the port at Lazaro Cardenas. "The infrastructure is ready for anything shipping companies need."

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Kansas City has a stake in trade with Mexico and plans to build an "inland port" center that would allow freight to pass customs in Kansas City and avoid long border delays for trucks crossing into Mexico. And freight that goes by rail rather than truck can mean business for Kansas City Southern de Mexico, the country's biggest railroad, formed when Kansas City Southern bought out its Mexican partner, Grupo TMM.

Kansas City has agreements fostering business and government partnerships with counterparts in Lazaro Cardenas and its state, Manzanillo, along with another deep-water port city, Manzanillo.

Private companies have approached ports in Mexico looking for backup routes in case of work stoppages in California. A dispute between shipping lines and dockworkers led to a shutdown of all big western U.S. ports in 2003, sending thousands of container ships steaming south.

"The world's biggest retailers want to have more options open," said David Eaton, a spokesman for Kansas City Southern de Mexico.

However, the company also noted that the Lazaro Cardenas "business model is not to take business away from the U.S. West Coast ports, but rather to absorb a significant percentage of projected growth."

Los Angeles-Long Beach handles 40 percent of all the cargo shipped into the United States and 80 percent of U.S. imports from Asia.

In July, officials began unloading cargo 24 hours a day while giving shippers financial incentive to move cargo during evening and weekend hours so trucks hauling it could avoid the long lines of peak hours.

But, officials concede, problems remain.

Mexican authorities say lower port fees, as well as jitters about terrorist threats on U.S. soil, may also push business their way.

Expansions at Lazaro Cardenas are focused on goods bound for the Mexican market.

But with the amount of cargo steaming into the American West Coast expected to outpace the capacity of ports there in coming years, Mexico wants to be ready for the surplus.

© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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