KCS: Counting the cost of Hurricane Alex

Kansas City Southern said Thursday that a week after Hurricane Alex made landfall in Mexico, it was still “too early in the recovery process to estimate the financial impact of the repairs and business interruption which KCS and KCS de Mexico currently expect will be reflected primarily in their third-quarter financial results.”

The company said the storm caused “significant track damage around the Monterrey and Saltillo areas as well as on the lines to Laredo and Matamoros,” and “there have also been multiple track related incidents due to the hurricane.”

KCSM has issued freight embargos at the U.S.-Mexico border and into Monterrey while the damage is repaired. It could take up to two weeks to clear congestion and move trains currently parked as a result of the service disruption.

KCS as been sending equipment, track materials, and workers into Mexico from the U.S. as KCSM worked with connecting carriers on movement and staging of trains so that when lines reopen service it can return to normal as quickly as possible.

The company said it maintains insurance to cover such events with self-insured retention amounts ranging from $5 million to $10 million.