A local Mexican judge has authorised the Mary Nour to enter Tampico with its 26,200t of Russian cement after he rejected the arguments presented by Cemex, to stop the arrival of the ship to the port. The decision of the judge is first legal victory for the Mexican company CDM.
"We are very happy... it is the first victory that we have ", said Ricardo Alessio, one of the partners of Commerce for the Mexican Development (CDM), in a telephone interview with local journalists.
However CDM now has to get the ship released from its berth in the port of Altamira where it is still being held by customs investigating rather spurious claims of smuggling in this Russian cargo to Mexico.
CDM is confident that its new import business will be good for Mexican consumers who currently pay prices some 30-40 per cent higher than those in the neighbouring US. It claim that local prices set by Cemex and Apasco’s Holcim reflect the 80 per cent market dominance of these two international companies. CDM would therefore generate better levels of competition which can only benefit the consumer – Ricardo Alessio concluded.
