COST CENTRAL.

WHILE MEXICAN CONTAINER TRAFFIC AWAY FROM THE COASTS IS COSTLY, CENtral American box rates for inland container movement" can be almost equal to the amount of ocean freight," says Steve Muschenheim, an agent at Parker and Company, a logistics provider based in Brownsville, Texas. "When you throw in the fact that the trade is not balanced and carriers are using reefers when they could use dry containers to position northbound, costs keep going up."

Apart from expensive boxes, the lack of infrastructure means that shipping companies are hard-pressed to provide door-to-door service.

Puerto Cortes in Honduras, for example, is the busiest seaport in Central America. Roads and bridges have been improved, especially between the port and the large cities, but transit times to outlying areas are long and inland container movement remains slow. Muschenheim, however, believes increased trade, especially thanks to favorable textile quotas under the Caribbean Basin Initiative," will improve the ability to handle containers inland."

Changes already underway in Panama will reduce highway congestion and improve container transportation. For example, the Panama Canal Railway Company, which began operations this year, has created a land bridge between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that will entrench Panama as a cargo hub. Vessels too large to fit through the canal's locks can now unload containers onto rail cars that transfer them to warehouses or ships on the other side of the canal. Before the new railroad began service, large ships had to transfer cargo onto smaller ones--a process that could make the canal transit last two days, including as much as 24 hours waiting simply to enter the canal.

In these days of just-in-time deliveries, that kind of wait is a luxury that many shippers can ill afford.