The reported seizure of Birmingham’s Vulcan Materials’ terminal on the Yucatán Peninsula is focusing attention on the events involving the company in a legal fight over a quarry.
Vulcan Materials says Mexican armed forces took over its facility in the country’s southeastern most state on Tuesday, despite a court ordered stay on any government action to confiscate the property.
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville in a statement said the incident is “the latest example of the Mexican government exploiting President Biden’s weakness, and the situation will only get worse until the President addresses it head on.”
“For more than 30 years, Vulcan Materials Company has operated a limestone quarry in Mexico that has created good jobs both in Mexico and in Alabama,” Tuberville said. “Yet time and again, President López Obrador and the Mexican government have undermined Vulcan’s ability to operate in Mexico. Last year, I urged President Biden to confront President López Obrador about the Mexican government’s aggression toward Vulcan Materials. As usual, President Biden buried his head in the sand.
“President Biden’s failure of leadership has only emboldened Mexico to continue taking hostile action against Vulcan that puts employees at risk and jeopardizes our supply chains in the southeast region of the United States,” Tuberville said.
Last May, Tuberville, along with nine other senators including former U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, sent a letter to Biden urging action against “numerous arbitrary and punitive actions against Vulcan, illustrating increasingly protectionist and anti-competitive policies that disregard the rule of law.”
U.S. Senator Katie Britt denounced the seizure of the port facility at Punta Venado in a statement Sunday, saying that “President Biden must raise this directly with President López Obrador and assure the American people that this will not be tolerated.”
State Rep. Chip Brown (R-Hollinger’s Island), who chairs the House Ports, Waterways & Intermodal Transit Committee, issued a similar statement, saying the seizure “must not be tolerated.”
“It is time for the Biden administration to finally show some backbone and defend a respected U.S. company that was operating legally in a country that claims to be an ally, though evidence would indicate otherwise,” Brown said.
“Perhaps if Mexican law enforcement and military forces spent more time combatting the illegal drug cartels that have taken over its streets and less time attacking companies that are operating in good faith under the law, that country would be safer for both tourists and investors alike.”
Vulcan Materials also says that workers from Mexican-based building materials company Cemex were part of the takeover.
According to Bloomberg, Reforma newspaper published video footage showing police cars and vehicles branded with Cemex’s logo entering the plant.
Cemex has not responded to a request for comment.
According to Global Cement, the dispute is just the latest chapter in a dispute between Vulcan and the Mexican government over the installation, which has been shuttered since last May.
Vulcan Materials’ subsidiary Sac-Tun operates the terminal, serving the nearby Playa del Carmen quarry.
Sac-Tun previously provided handling and unloading services at the terminal for Cemex, but its contract expired Dec. 31, 2022.
Earlier this month, a local court ruled in favor of Cemex in the dispute over its continued use of the facilities, before a higher court issued an injunction in Vulcan Materials’ favor last week.
Vulcan Materials is also embroiled in another legal dispute against the Mexican government, seeking $78.9 million for its refusal to renew Sac-Tun’s license to operate the Playa del Carmen quarry.
The Mexican government says the quarry had ceased to operate in line with environmental impact license requirements.
Vulcan, through its subsidiaries, mines crushed limestone in the region for use in construction.