Shaking Hands Across the Border
Kansas City is building business partnerships and trade routes with Mexican cities.

By Larin Huntze


The Kansas City region is a recognized hotbed of small business growth, regularly appearing at the top of national rankings. International relationship building likely will further enhance our city’s reputation. As a result of increasing relations between Mexico and Kansas City, a number of activities are occurring throughout the region, and partnerships with Mexican counterparts are evolving into groundbreaking growth for our region.

Mexican Customs in KC
Kansas City SmartPort’s involvement with trade missions to and from Mexico has brought about historic progress. The biggest success from KC SmartPort’s endeavors with Mexico is the project between the U.S. and Mexican governments to place a Mexican customs office in Kansas City. This will be the first such office located anywhere in the United States. The pilot project will allow freight moving southbound to Mexico to clear in Kansas City, seal the shipment on the truck, and enable border crossings to become seamless.

Kansas City has several key components that make it an excellent hub for all transportation and logistics operations. It is the second largest rail center in the United States, as well as having more Foreign Trade Zone space than any other U.S. city. Other advantages include the city’s location on the largest navigable inland waterway (Missouri and Mississippi River system) and the infrastructure of three of the nation’s major interstate highways (I-35, I-70 and I-29). And, the Kansas City International Airport moves more air cargo each year than any air center in a six-state region.

Many U.S. cities have been vying for the opportunity to host the Mexican customs facility, but as mentioned above, Kansas City has advantages that other cities do not.

Construction on the new Mexican customs facility will soon begin in the central industrial area of Kansas City.

Strategic Agreements
Earlier this year, officials from Port of Manzanillo, Mexico, and Kansas City signed a cooperative agreement that will create opportunities to ship goods from Manzanillo to Kansas City. This union will further enable KC SmartPort’s bid to be the United States’ leading inland trade center, as Manzanillo is the second-largest container port in Mexico.

Another historic moment took place on March 22 when officials representing Kansas City and the Port of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, initiated a mutual effort to market and promote the shipment of goods from Lazaro Cardenas to Kansas City on a new trade route now referred to as the Lazaro Cardenas–Kansas City Corridor.

The Mexican port is becoming an alternate shipping route for Asian goods, as West Coast ports become increasingly congested. Lazaro Cardenas, on the southwest coast of Mexico, has capacity to expand its facilities, unlike West Coast ports, which are at capacity. Expansion at Lazaro Cardenas is not only beneficial to the port itself, but to Kansas City, which will see an increased amount of goods traveling on the corridor.

Kansas City has been known as a transportation hub since the early 1800s due to its location in the center of the United States, and SmartPort will promote the corridor to maximize Lazaro Cardenas’ and Kansas City’s rankings in global trade.

Small Business Benefits
These partnerships between Kansas City and Mexico will aid small business owners and encourage smaller companies to take advantage of their location in a city that is renowned as a transportation hub. Specifically for smaller companies who import, export and have business endeavors in Mexico, the customs facility will allow the seamless movement of goods to and from Mexico.

Further, business with Mexico will bring economic development to the Kansas City region through an increase in demand for services. Small businesses will have the opportunity to supply the needed services, resulting in increased revenue. As more businesses occupy the region, there will be more activity for local companies, more opportunity for growth and an increase in available jobs for the community. The developments also will bring closer relationships with Mexico and provide opportunities for small businesses to expand south of the border.

As Kansas City increases its international trade activity, small businesses will look for means of expanding their operations. The growing relations between Mexico and Kansas City are beneficial for the entire Kansas City community as the region begins to market the unique assets it can offer companies from across the country and around the world.

Larin Huntze is coordinator of Kansas City SmartPort, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote international trade within the region. She can be reached at (816) 374-5640 or .