The main communication road between Chihuahua and the rest of the country is through the road 45 to Jimenez and through the road 49 to connect the south and the northeast of Mexico.

The road 45 that goes from Jimenez to Parral then to Mexico is rarely used by the freight companies because it is too isolated, unsafe, and the asphalt is in very bad conditions.

It is well known that the cities of Jimenez, Escalon, Ceballos, and Bermejillo are used as checking and resting points. From this 3 towns the only one that does not have a gas station is Escalon.

Escalon has a population of 2500 people according to the last official count in 2000, and it is located at 72 kilometers from Jimenez to Torreon the road 49.

The closest gas station is in Ceballos and it is old and inefficient for the trailers.

The choices to refill fuel inside the area of influence are Jimenez, Bermejillo, and Torreon; however, the drivers prefer to refill in the open contryside where they can move around more easily.

As a summary we next present the main elements that provide our project with great opportunities.

1. Plenty of traffict of freigth lines on road 49.
2. Escalon is a natural resting area for all the drivers.
3. There are limited or very few service stations in the area.
4. There is no gas station with the caracteristics of this project in the area.
5. There is no gas station in Escalon.
6. The request of fuel in the area is increasing.

The quality and the service are the principal objectives to focus on for the success of our project. The fuel capacity of a trailer is an average of 1,200 liters which allows them to travel a great distance before they need refilling. The drivers will want to refill diesel if they receive good food, service and quality.

This project's product is farther than a gas station . It is intended to be a PETRO; this means we want to provide a more complete service with the next caracteristics:

• Effective pumps for diesel dispatch
• Dispensers for gasoline dispatch
• Parking places for 200 trailers
• Restaurant
• Resting area with air conditioning and T.V.
• Shower and steam- bath rooms
• Convinience store
• Laundry
• Restrooms
• Message center
• Telephone and fax service
• Tire repair shop
• Electic shop
• Mechanic shop

The service station will be directed mainly to serve the marketing area of cargo vehicles belonging to all, commercial, private or public lines. We will also provide gasoline and all the services that cars need.

Main costumers. There are a great deal of freight lines from Baja California, Sonora, and Tamaulipas States as well as many other lines that come from the southern part of the country. The main transportation lines that have their head offices in the state of Chihuahua with state and national routes are the next:

There are also a great number of companies that have their own transportation crew. We can mention the next as an example:

• Beer Companies
• Cement Companies
• Food Companies
• Bread Companies
• Milk Companies
• Sodas Companies

The station in Ceballos has: 

• Three double dispensers with gasoline (magna and nova gasoline)
• 1 dispenser for 'nova' gasoline
• 2 diesel dispensers (old)

• There are two pipes with a 15,000 liter capacity. One for 'nova' gasoline and diesel and another for 'magna' gasoline.

The first pipe travels to Gomez Palacios twice a day. It normally carries one load of 'nova' and one of 'diesel' but sometimes and because of the high diesel consumption for the double lane road construction, they have to carry diesel twice a day. There has been a time when it has been necessary to rent another pipe for position fuel for sometimes the sales have been up to 60,000 diesel liters.

In times of great agricultural activity, there is an average sale of 15,000 liters of diesel a day. In times of low consumption there is a regular sale of 4 000 liters of diesel a day. In Holidays and Christmas times gas sales increase.

The service station in Ceballos faces great limitations to serve trailers and diesel buses due mainly to the limited space and inefficient design of the place. It is only possible to serve a unit at a time which is quite slow for they don't have effective dispensers. The service is generally slow.

The highway will have an important negative effect in the town and on the service station for it will pass at about 10 km. away from the town. The project itself will affect the station in Ceballos because of the modern service systems that will be offered in Centro Camionero de Escalon.

In the near future the diesel sale will be mainly for local agricultural consumption .

There are very few trailers that buy diesel there because of its inappropriateness. Most of the sales is due to the construction of the highway and to the local agricultural consumption.

Station In Jimenez 1

Location: At The Entrance In Jimenez On The Highway Chihuahua- Jimenez.

Hidalgo And Mariscal No. 200

This service station, counts with:

• 4 modern double dispensers of 'magna' and 'nova' gasoline.
• 2 diesel dispensers and 3 configurated satelites S-B-S-B-S
• Capacity to fix simultaneously 4 trailers' tires with a high speed pump.
• It has a parking area for trailers in the back which isn't used very often.
• Before, there used to be other services as showers to be used by drivers with no charge for companies which had made some business agreements with the station. This service was available for drivers from other lines at a price of 5 pesos too. This service hasn't been offered since the last modernization of the place.

We estimate a sales average of 15-20 000 liters a day.

The new dispensers have been working since six months ago aproximately.

Station In Jimenez 2

Servicio Camionero De Jimenez S.A De C.V.

Located At The Southern Exit In Ciudad Jimenez.

Highway Jimenez- Zavalza No. 1303

This station has been modernized recently. It consists of three sections; one dedicated to gasoline and two to diesel dispatch. Centro Camionero Jimenez also has restrooms and public phones, they sell sodas and ice. There is a tire fix shop that seems to be independent from the station. It is in a way an obstacle for the entrance of trailers to the station. It does not have a restaurante, resting area for drivers, nor any other services.

We saw that several drivers are not used to quick dispatch of fuel for they use the filling time to check the motor, clean windows, etc. Sometimes the trailers remain too much time in the dispensers area ,even when they have been dispatched, which does not allow the access of other trucks. This situation would be avoided if there were a wide parking area.

The dispatch capacity in simultaneous form will be for 6 trailers including the head dispenser and the satelite. The fuel is brought in pipes Combylub S.A. with a 45 000 liter capacity. During the observation two pipes with fuel arrived. One of them apparently with two sections with a capacity of 23 660 and 21 440 liters; probably with a section of 'nova' and a section of 'magna'. The other pipe was carrying diesel .

The main trailer flow comes from the highway in the direction Torreon-Jimenez. We estimate a daily diesel sale of 50 000 liters. The parking area is too small.

This section is the original one and it has with two double gasoline dispensers ('magna' and 'nova') and with two diesel dispensers which will be replaced by gasoline ones for the sections 2 and 3 are used for diesel dispatch.

Still many trailers stop to get their fuel in these old diesel dispensers.

This intermediate section is not in operation yet. It will have two Gilbarco high speed diesel dispensers and two satelites.

This modernized section has two high speed Gilbarco dispensers of high speed and two satelites.

Some of the lines that arrived there during our observation were:

The ideal capacity of diesel dispatch at the moment is for 4 trailers simultaneously. The station that has a capacity for 6 trailers was never using such capacity at a 100%. Besides, this generates internal traffic problems and it requires a higher investment in order to have a capacity that is not used. The number of gasoline dispensers for an urban station with the charateristics of the ones in Cd. Jimenez is that of 4 pumps to serve up to 8 cars simultaneously. In the case of Escalon, from 2 to 3 gasoline pumps will be enough since unlike the trailer drivers, car drivers prefer to get their fuel in the city before starting or going on a trip. In addition, inicially we chose to place 2 dispensers in the section of the project of Escalon for a new highway has been made Jimenez-Zavalza which passes at less than 1 km. from the station. This definitely affects the traffic flow to the station.

The station in Ceballos, Dgo. will face two main problems. First of all it is not modern nor efficient, which even now, limitates its sales to cargo trucks. In second place the double lane highway passes more than 10 km. away which will limit its gasoline sales that used to be its principal business. And, thirdly when starting to operate our station in Escalon with better service and buildings will reduce its sales even more. This is why Ceballos is not a significant competitor.

The stations in Jimenez have been fixed recently and have an important car and cargo transportation flow since due to the city cars and the cars in transit to other towns. Trailer drivers, however, prefer to get their fuel, eat, rest, etc. in rural areas. It is very common to see that trailers stay overnight in Escalon, Ceballos, Yermo , Peronal , and Bermejillo; all of these are small towns dedicated for the most part to provide any kind of service to the drivers, especially tire fixing and food. Escalon, with a strong cargo transportation tradition that would be complemented with a service station as a PETRO with a wide parking place would bring all kinds of drivers the services they demand.

In this project there are two main factors that affect the clients decision. 75% of the cases in our survey for the election of a service station is made by the truck drivers. This regularly occurs in medium and small companies. The payment is cash. 25% of the interviewed people answered that the service station election is done by the company which generally has made business agreements with the service station for the fuel and service payment. Truck drivers would pay with purchase orders, checks or debit cards. This last situation means greater administrative control and negociations; it is more common to happen with larger companies.

The sales strategies of our company Centro Camionero Maba S.A. de C.V. must include these two key elements for decision making: The driver and the company.

In some kinds of products like gasolne, diesel, the price is not a determining factor for choosing a service station for it is the same in the whole county. The service, the infrastructure and location become the most important factors for the selection of the service station. For the driver, the quality of the service is fundamental. The most important factors they mentioned are:

• Attention
• Appropriate infrastructure for trailers
• Location in rural areas
• Wide parking area
• Vigilance
• Homelike food
• Availability of a series of services ( tire fixing shop/ autoparts/ restrooms/phone, etc).
• Quality and Quantity for fuel dispatch

Among the interviewed companies in Chihuahua, most of them showed interest in using our project's service and in making arrangements to define the payment form.

For the company the most important factors are:

• A credit system (purchase orders, debit cards, etc)
• A monitoring and message center for the trucks
• Free services for the drivers ( parking, showers, resting area)
• Availability of some services ( tire fixing shop, etc)
• Strategic location in their way.

The products and services will be offered as a result of this project. They will be given directly in the establishment of the service station "Centro Camionero MABA S.A. de C.V. "

The operation of a service station is regulated within the Pemex franchise program.

The executive project AN-2760/93 was approved on May 23, 1994 for the construction of a Pemex service station under the franchise regime. The most reelevant aspects for the operation of this franchise are mentioned next.

a) Documentation

1. Creation of a Commercial Society
2. Authorization for ground use
3. Authorization of the SCT for the access to property if the station is constituted on federal roads.
4. Correspondance of federal roads and bridges to operate the station next to the highway.
5. Tne necessary permissions from Health, Urban development, and Ecology Department as well as the federal, state, and local authorities.

b). Operation

1. The operation of the service station will be subject to the legal correspondant regulations, administrative, and of contract as well as with the current technic and administrative preventions and with the future dictations of PEMEX about service stations modernization.

c) Requirements

1. The main objective of the society will be the exclusive sale of oil-bearing products supplied by PEMEX.
2. That there will not be foreign participation in the association.
3. In the case of a share transfer or sale or of the admission of a new associate. PEMEX should previously authorize it officially.
4. The society is subject to follow PEMEX modernization program for service stations.

d) Specifications

1. In case the association does not accomplish the agreed terms for the for the presentation of dicuments and iniciation of the construction, Petroleos Mexicanos has the right free of responsilility of canceling such authorization keeping the previous payments they have received.

e) Contract

1. Pemex will sign a contract with the Association for the exclusive sale of oil-bearing products Pemex and a franchise contract for the commercialization, in the service station, of goods and services that are not supplied by Pemex-Refinacion.

f) Force

1. This authorization for the service station operation will have a force of 10 years which Pemex will renovate for 5 years as long as the association has fullfilled the requirements.

g) Revocation

1. Cedes, somehow, imposes or pemits other people to make use of the rights derived from this authorization.
2. Sells oil-bearing products that are not supplied by Pemex
3. Does not carry out any of the obligations imposed by this authorization or the contracts agreed with Pemex.
4. Performs by themselves or by others any activities that are not included in Pemex program of service stations or that are not authorized in written form by Pemex.
5. Modifies the destinated areas to the main purpose of the association which is the distribution and sale of oil-bearin products without the authorization in written form by Pemex.
6. Does not finish the construction of the service station within the pemex due time.

h) Exclusivity.

1. Pemex does not give exclusivity for the sale of its oil-bearing products in any area or region of the country. It has the right, according to the population's necessities, to authorize or not the instalation of other service stations.

The most important products to sell with this project will be :

• Diesel
• Magna gasoline
• Nova Gasoline
• Restaurant
• Convenience Store
• Freight fuel

At a smaller quantity the next services will be offered:

• Oil and additives
• Tire fixing
• Electric shop
• Mechanic shop
• Telephone service
• Fax service
• Steam rooms

The next chart shows the estimated sales in volume (liters, services, etc.) and their equivalence in pesos. The quantities have been programmed annually out of the daily and monthly estimations.

Starting from the oil Expropriation on March, 18, 1938, the exploitation, distribution, and hydrocarbon sale in Mexico have been administrated by Petroleos Mexicanos. Within the NAFTA negotiation, extraction , distribution, and sale were excluded from the agreement. Therefore, Pemex will continue being the only supplier of oil-bearing products for motors in Mexico.

The industrial, agricultural, economical, and commercial development, internal and external commerce, the population increase, the market location, and every time to a greater extent the NAFTA, are the principal promoters of the development of the merchandise transportation system, that are the main clients and promoters of new fuel service stations.

According to the National Geography, Statistics, and Computers Institute , the country's vehicle park including autos, freight, and cargo vehicles is up to 11 350 729 units. We estimate an increment of 2.2% for 2001, this means 11 601 858 units.

According to the data given by the ANPACT (Association Nal. de Productores de Autobuses, Camiones y Tractocamiones, A.C.), The global market of trucks presents a negative tendency in relation to the previous year. The report of May 1994 presents a negative global variation of -4.64% in comparison with the sales of the same month of the previous year. But since 1999 the tendency have increase every month. In market segments it is important to mention that the only segments with a positive segment were:

• Trailers +14.09%
• Chassis for public transportation +88.94%
• Integral buses + 24.29%

This is a strong indicator of the growth and modernization of the cargo and freight transportation.

The main clients of this project are 5-tire trailers , which have had a very important sales growth.

The negative growth segments were:

• Heavy trailers -5.08%
• Construction vehicles - 63.87%

The accumulated sales from January to May 1999 for trailer's kind has been:

• Trailers 6147 units
• Chassis for public transportation 3364 units
• 5-tire trailers 2518 units
• Construction segment 444 units
• Total 12 473 units

ANPACT mentions that the inflation and the high interests have caused the trailer acquisition to reduce, however, in spite of this adverse factors, the 5-tire trailers sale has grown significantly.

The only oil-bearing supplier in Mexico is Pemex through the service stations in all the country. for this project particularly, the fuel must be picked up in the Pemex installations in Gomez Palacio Dgo. The service station should provide the trucks and tanks to transport the fuel. Pemex covers the freight cost considering the distance and kind of fuel to transport.

The offer of fuel dispatch services in the area of this project is given by the service stations found in Ceballos and the two stations in Jimenez. The fuel consumption growth in the last 3 years is shown next:

The tendency in fuel sales in the closest sale spots to our project have increased significantly.

Since the product can be obtained in any station at the same price, this is not an important factor in the demand. The location as well as the quality and diversity of services are key elements for the service demand. The traffic amount is an important element that when combined with other factors they impact the demand.

Escalon is located in a strategic point to the south of Chihuahua State. It is located near 300 km. from Chihuahua city. In the next chart we show the distances to several cities from the State and the Country.

The trailers in the way to Mexico usually get their fuel in Zacatecas.

None of the mentioned stations offers the service diversity considered in our project such as:

• Restaurant
• Resting area with A/C and heater
• Shower and steam rooms
• Laundry
• Store
• Telephone and Fax
• Message Center
• Parking place for 200 trailers
• Electrical and Mechanic shops
• Tire Fixing shop

In order to get to know the vehicle potential in a more precise way in the area considered in the project for the new service station in Escallop, Chih., we made a series of vehicle measures, which were carried out under the net conditions:

• 1 day of the week was chosen at random, except Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays.
• 4 measures were done in four consecutive days and in a different place each day. One in the field to study in three measures in analogic service stations (one in Ceballos and two in Jimenez).

• A traffic measurement was done in each point for six consecutive hours, with partial measurements of 30 min. each.
• For a better visualization of the information, a selection was done according to the registered vehicles: gasoline, diesel, and buses.
• In the analogic service stations studied there was also a classification according to vehicles that went into such stations.
• There was a classification made of traffic according to destiny which are shown in each point analysis. Some codes were used to identify the vehicle destiny, the kind of vehicle and if it entered to get fuel or not; in order to idenfity each, the naming is presented in the bottom of each chart.
• The vehicles, gasoline as well as diesel, that entered the different service stations were analyzed separately from the vehicles that only passed through the station.

Next, we present the results in each measured spot.

The next chart shows the total number of registered vehicles during the 6 hour measure. Also we present the respective percentages and a circulating vehicle average every half an hour. (The naming is at the bottom of each chart).

It can be seen the the vehicle traffic from south to north and viceversa is almost proportional.

An interesting fact is that the highest percentage of circulating vehicles used diesel (55%). The participation of gasoline vehicles was 44%, and only 4% were commercial bus lines (see chart).

The average diesel vehicles that circulate in the highway per hour was 66, this means, a little over 1 per minute.

In the town of Ceballos there is only one service sation. In the next chart we can see the next results.

We can see in Escalon too, a traffic distribution in both ways of the highway.

The diesel vehicles participation registered in the 6 hour measurement was 34% in comparison with the total number of vehicles that circulated through the area. ( see chart). This is due to the fact that Ceballos presents a heavier vehicle circulation in the town and the towns around including Escalon where there is no service station.

However, if we compare the total number of diesel vehicles registered in Ceballos with the ones in Escalon (397 in Escalon and 353 in Ceballos) , we can see that there is little difference between them.

The average of diesel vehicles that circulate per hour is 60 , this means, 1 per minute, which is very similar to the Escalon .

We see in the presented chart that 24% of gasoline vehicles that circule in fornt of the service station entered it, which is certainly a high proportion. However, beacause of the service station conditions and the lack of open areas for efficient and free movement, only a 4.5% from the diesel vehicles that circulate though it get their fuel. We could see that some big trucks tried to enter, but due to the crowd there was, they left. Another interesting observation is that 75% of the diesel trucks that entered to get fuel , were criculating from north so south, this may mean that the trucks that come from the south get their fuel in Torreon, Bermejillo, or any other previous station, or they may wait to fill in their tanks in Jimenez. About commercial lines, none of them entered to get their fuel.

This service station is found in the northern exit in Jimenez next to the highway but in a point where there is great vehicle traffic. As we can see in the destiny diagram, the direction combinations registered were many.

We see in this chart that the routes C and H were the one with the greatest traffic concentration, this means, C are vehicles coming from the south and turn right to take the free highway from Camargo to Chihuahua; the route H correspons to the vehicles coming from the north and that enter from the charge highway.

In this case, 21% of the vehicles that circulated in that area during the six hour mesure are diesel, the proportion is smaller than in Ceballos; this is understandable because the town Jimenez is much larger than the first one. However, the registered amount of diesel vehicles in this part was almost twice the registered in Ceballos and in Escalon.

The diesel vehicles average that go through the service station was 102 per hour, this means, almost 2 vehicles per minute. It is important to mention that the vehicles coming from Parral to Camargo and Delicias have to pass through this station to take the free highway.

We see in the previous charts that 8.4% of the gasoline vehicles that passed by stopped to get fuel. From the number of vehicles that passed 9.3% stopped in the service station. None of the commercial bus lines stopped at the station.

Aproximately 60 % of the diesel vehicles that stopped at the station came from north to south. The rest came from the south.

In the charts below we can make the next observations:

The vehicle flow that circulate from north to south and viceversa are quite proportional.

In this case the proportuon of diesel vehicles that passed by the station was 32% from the total number of vehicles that circulated in the area. The proportion was larger than the station located in the northern exit because this station is not located in a central point in the city.

There is an average of 90 diesel vehicles that circulated in an hour, this means, 1.5 per minute.

In the previous char we can see that 13% of the diesel vehicles that passed by the station stopped. Such percentage was greater than the one in the northern exit, in fact the number of diesel vehicles that stopped was larger than in the other station.

We observe that 69% of the diesel vehicles that stopped to get their fuel came from the south of the state.

None of the commercial line buses stopped in the station.

From measurements that were carried out in the proposed field we find that more than a half of the vehicles that pass by are diesel vehicles. This contributes positively to the project Centro Camionero.

Commercial bus lines did not stop by the stations where we were measuring , perhaps these are not potential clients for out project. The participation of these comparing to the total number of vehicles is not important.

From the observations made in Ceballos and Jimenez we conclude the next.

The station in Ceballos is not an important competidor for the station in the project for Escalon because it lacks enough pumps, inadecuate access and movement areas. However, the stations in Jimenez, on the other hand, are real competidors for the project for they have a very important vehicle entry. Also, Centro Camionero de Torreon, Coah. and the station in Bermejillo can be considered strong competidors for the new station. This makes us think that with the new station in Escalon, it will be necessary to distribute the number of clients from the stations in Torreon, Bermejillo, and Jimenez.

If we take into consideration that the average of diesel vehicles takes 400 fuel liters, in the six hour measure we coclude that:

• In Ceballos case 16 units arrived. If we multiply them by 400 liters we obtain a volume of 6,400 liters of diesel in the measurement time.
• In Jimenez case Gas 1 , 59 units arrived which mean 24 000 liters of diesel in the measurement time.
• In Jimenez case Gas 2 , there were 70 diesel units that mean 28 000 liters in the measurement time.

Under these assumptions in a six hour period of a normal daily journal there is an approximate sale of 58 400 liters of diesel among the three studied stations.

According to the results from the analysis we carried out in the measurement point in the station in Jimenez GAS 2 we ibserve that the day of the measurement 75% of the diesel vehicles that circulated through the place came from of took the free highway. In the 25 % that take or come from the charge highway, we are not considering the trucks that come from or go to Chihuahua or Parral for they don't have to pay for this highway.

Unless there is an agreement among the owners and the government to reduce significantly the fees for the charge highway the trailers will continue using the free highways. Even under this assumption, the approximation to the charge highway to the service station, as well as the offered services, avoids the effect of the new highway to affect the segment of the diesel sale.

In Escalon case, when the new highway is ready (that will pass at aproxmately 600 m. from the original highway) the application of this percentage is possible.

From the traffic analysis and from the results obtained we suggest the next:

Considering that the highway that passed by Escalon is a two-lane road and considering that the station would be on the right side ( from south to north ), it is convinient to count with a access area at a side of the road to allow the vehicles that come from north to south to have easier access to the station and to reduce the accident risks due to sudden stops.

Since our main clients will be trailers it is important to consider wide areas to move around taking into account the double cargo trailers.

We should try to have an adecuate number or pumps and satelites to be able to offer an efficient and quick fuel dispatch.

We made traffic measurements in Escalon, Ceballos, and Jimenez, classifying cars, trucks and buses that either pass by or stop in the stations to get fuel. In short, the results were:

During the six hour measurement time, there were a total of 727 vehicles, with the next distribution:

• gasoline automobiles 41.8%
• diesel motors 54.6%
• buses 3.6%

Once the service station is ready and considering a standard constancy of 10% and an average fuel consumption of 200 liters per trailer (modest estimation), and considering 18 hours per day we would have a diesel sale of 23 000 liters daily. For financial analysis effects we will consider daily sales of 20 000 liters of diesel.

In a period of 6 hours there were a total of 1 034 passing vehicles. This number is larger in comparison with Escalon for there is a greater local car traffic . However, the amount of diesel trucks is more similar to the measurement in Escalon with a confirmed average of traffic level of 62 trucks per hour ( 1 per minute).

In Ceballos 24% of the cars stopped to get gasoline and 4.5% of the trucks stopped for diesel.

Through the streets and roads near this station, there were 3,046 vehicles from which 632 used diesel. In this station, 8.4% of gasoline vehicles stopped in the station, and 9.4% of diesel motors stopped for fuel.

This station, located in the southern exit in Jimenez, had a smaller influcence from the city traffic with a total amount of traffic of 1 684 vehicles in the 6 hour measurement, from which 544 used diesel. In this station, 11% of gasoline vehicles stopped in the station and 12.9% of the trucks to get diesel.