AIFA to Open in Eight Months

Cablebús suffers an electric failure in only its first month of operation causing a short disruption of its services. In addition, AIFA has been confirmed to launch in eight months-time despite the missing information regarding its operation.

This and more, in your weekly Infrastructure Round up!

Monterrey Industrial Market Benefits from Nearshoring

The entry into force of the Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) accelerated investments by foreign and domestic companies seeking to manufacture their products in Mexico due to the benefits it represents skilled labor, proximity to the world's largest consumer (the US), lower or zero tariffs, to name a few.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on supply chains, causing them to suffer disruptions. This has made companies look for other supply options such as nearshoring. Monterrey has been one of the winning markets for T-MEC and nearshoring due to its geography and infrastructure. This is reflected in the demand for industrial space, which during the second quarter of 2021, the Monterrey market accounted for 33 percent of the rental or sale of industrial space in the country, totaling a gross absorption of 381,885 m2 in the second quarter, representing a massive increase of 347 percent compared to the same quarter in 2020.

The tenants that occupied the industrial space demanded in Monterrey correspond to the agribusiness, food and beverage, automotive, auto parts, industrial consumer goods, consumer goods, construction, household appliances, electronics, metalworking, paper and stationery, and plastics industries.

Cablebus Line 1 Suffers a Loss in Electricity

The Secretariat of Mobility stated that around 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, an electrical transformer exploded in the area, which caused the lack of supply at the point and a pause in the service for a period of ten minutes. Safety protocols were immediately implemented, and the line had a 10-minute halt to its operation. During this halted period, the transportation speed was lowered and, upon arrival at the stations, passengers were removed from the cabins to safeguard their safety in accordance with civil protection regulations. SEMOVI indicated that there was no damage to the physical, mechanical and electric installation.

Only Eight Months Until AIFA Opens

Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) is only eight months away from its scheduled inauguration, but industry experts warn that the information necessary to plan operations from this new terminal has been unavailable. In addition, there are over 30 injunctions against the redesign of the airspace and they could increase due to potential environmental effects. 

René Armas Maes, Commercial Vice President of Jet Link International told A21 that “The information that airlines require to design their operations from a new airport needs to be available as far in advance as possible and not less than 12 months before starting the operation.” Maes also explains that operators need to know the demand forecast, the connectivity from the airport, the availability of airplanes, the number of seats to offer, the availability of ground and flight personnel, the positioning of the competition and an analysis of average rates before starting operations. Information that so far has not been provided. Ultra-low-cost-airline Volaris, for example, commented that it would analyze the market and viability of the Santa Lucia airport in terms of operational safety and costs.

Mexican Cathedral Joins UNESCO's World Heritage List

The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) incorporated the Franciscan Convent and Cathedral Complex of Our Lady of the Assumption of Tlaxcala to UNESCO's World Heritage List.

The UNESCO reported during its 44th session, held online and chaired from Fuzhou (China) that these monuments are representative of the architectural model adopted by the first missionaries, specifically Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians, who evangelized the indigenous populations in the 16th century. The Franciscan Conventual and Cathedral Complex of Our Lady of the Assumption of Tlaxcala is also an example of a new vision of architecture.

The Tlaxcala's Cathedral is now part of the 14 monasteries located on the slopes of Popocatepetl (in Puebla and Morelos) that were included on the list in 1994 to ensure their adequate conservation.

5G Electric Industry Applications

In a recent Huawei press release, the company details the success it had applying its 5G Electrical Power Virtual Private Network solution to China Mobile for China Southern Power Grid (CSPG) which provides electricity to most of the city of Shenzhen, a total service area of 1,953 sq kilometers and a customer base of 3.05 million.

At a component level, Huawei intendeds to reduce carbon emissions with its 98 percent efficient rectifier in combination with heat resistant materials and phase change cooling temperature control to help save 5,000 kWh of electricity per site annually. At sites, operators could save at least 50 percent on energy by following its six recommended measures. Lastly, it purports that cloud based intelligent network management allows for intelligent network-wide coordination between mains supply, power supply system’s energy storage and loads. This particular function allows for precision energy efficiency management and energy consumption optimization at sites across the whole network.

For energy producers in Mexico, 5G may be an attractive prospect, especially because the country lacks infrastructure both in the national energy grid and broad band needed to support 5G, the probability of domestic application is beyond 2025. If Mexico intends to import these capabilities, they must first work on its aging transmission and distribution infrastructure. MBN expert contributor Federico Hernández, says Mexico needs more spectrum, new equipment and networks, devices and technologies to deploy 5G capacity. Overall, Mexico has much work ahead of itself, but it will also allow the proposed technologies to mature and scale up so that it can support Mexico City’s 8.8 million ever growing population.