Mexican Customs office in Kansas City nearing approval

Mexican Customs office in Kansas City nearing approval    The Mexican and U.S. governments are expected to approve a Mexican Customs office in Kansas City by the end of the year, setting in motion the opening of the first foreign customs office in the United States to be open by May, AP reported Thursday.
   The $3 million office is being opened to expedite shipments of American-made goods to Mexico as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, with manufacturing industries in the upper Midwest and Canada likely the first to benefit from the new customs operation, which could expand to handle cargo from across the country.
   Though Kansas City is 1,000 miles from the Mexican border, 'the industrial hub will soon start building an inland port that would whisk thousands of trucks through export inspections and shoot them back out onto the North American Free Trade Agreement corridor, where they can roll through the border without further delays,' AP reported.
   'San Antonio has also invested significant efforts to develop a competing inland port. But Kansas City officials hope the customs facility will give the city a leg up, especially once the project’s second phase, which will allow rail cars to clear Mexican customs as well, is completed. Kansas City Southern owns two Mexican train lines, which means they can send freight from the Midwest directly to the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, where car manufacturer Mazda Motor Corp. has begun shipping vehicles from Japan to Kansas City.'