Hurricane Particia causes little damage to Mexican ports

The ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas reopened over the weekend after being struck by what was at one point reported to be the strongest hurricane ever measured in the Western Hemisphere.    Major Mexican ports are reporting little damage in the wake of Hurricane Patricia.
   Reuters reported the storm caused less damage than expected in Manzanillo, the country’s largest port and that the port reopened on Saturday afternoon.
   Further to the south in Lazaro Cardenas, where APM Terminals has a large new facility under construction, all staff “are safe and no damage to equipment, structures or facility,” spokesman Tom Boyd told American Shipper.
   At one point said to be the strongest hurricane ever measured in the Western Hemisphere, Patricia “struck land in a relatively remote stretch of Mexico’s Pacific coast and quickly petered out as it hit the coastal mountains,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
   Kansas City Southern railway said heavy rains in the south of the Caltzontzin District area “resulted in a washout in the area of the main line (NE 157+200) between the stations of Las Minas and El Panama in the state of Michoacan.”
   As a result, it said service on the Kansas City Southrn Mexico network “has been interrupted while we assess and repair any damage to our tracks. In anticipation of the hurricane, we had extra resources ready and have begun the work.”