Borderlands Mexico: Organized crime groups fuel cargo theft surge in Mexico

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Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Organized crime groups fuel cargo theft surge in Mexico; Outpost expands national truck parking network; Averitt opens new trucking facility in Texas; and China-based Intretech plans $60M factory in Mexico.

Mexico averaged about six cargo thefts a day in August, with most cases taking place in the country’s central region, according to the National Association of Vehicle Tracking and Protection Companies (ANERPV).

In August, 142 cargo trucks were stolen or robbed, a 2.8% year-over-year increase from the same period in 2023.

Jose Suarez, the Latin America expert for real-time visibility provider Tive, said cargo theft in Mexico is mainly carried out by organized criminal groups.

“Cargo theft in Mexico is fully organized crime to the highest level. The equipment that they use and the type of techniques and training that they have is crazy,” Suarez told FreightWaves in an interview.

Tive is a Boston-based startup founded in 2015. The company provides freight visibility solutions, such as tracking devices that provide real-time data.

“Organized criminals, their modus operandi will start with a guy in a vehicle that’s going to be slowing the traffic around a truck they want to steal. The criminals are often so advanced that they don’t even let the tractor-trailer stop. They just get it to a minimum speed,” Suarez said.

Once a tractor-trailer has been slowed down, another armed member of the criminal organization will jump onto the trailer or even try to get into the tractor through a window, Suarez said.

“They tell [the driver] to put the window down, and they get through the window,” Suarez said. “Then they stop the truck and start opening the trailer and taking stuff. Sometimes they take the truck and trailer with them.”

The highways around the states of Puebla and Mexico City, as well as other states in the center of the country, continue to be the most dangerous lanes for transporters, according to ANERPV.

Puebla accounted for 46 stolen cargo trucks in August, while the State of Mexico had 27 cases.

“Personally, I’ve traveled to visit customers and I remember driving on the highway in [the state of] Queretaro, you can literally see the tracker jammers on the highway,” Suarez said. “These organized criminals will have six or 10 jammers, which are worth $10,000 each, and they are using them on the highway to block tracking devices in trucks.”

Almost 88% of cargo thefts were made while trucks were in transit, followed by 9% of robberies committed while the tractor-trailer was parked somewhere.

Suarez said Tive’s tracking devices offer traceability solutions, as well as technology for temperature monitoring and other services.

“Our trackers are made to go with your cargo, so you know exactly what’s happening to your cargo,” Suarez said. “If there’s a temp deviation or humidity or there is light because someone opened the package, if there’s shock, if there’s a route deviation, if there’s an unwanted stop, you can measure that on our platform. Our devices work on cargo via air, via ocean and on the road.”

From January through August, cargo thefts totaled 1,135, a 1% year-over-year increase compared to the same period in 2023.

Suarez said cargo theft will continue to grow as more freight moves between Mexico and the U.S.

“In Mexico and Latin America, we have the boom of the nearshoring. There’s new manufacturing, a lot of auto parts, a lot of produce, fruits, vegetables. Also, meat and poultry trade is growing,” Suarez said. “Regionalization, nearshoring for all those companies, has made a huge impact and has increased trade with most of it going over the road, crossing through the border in Laredo. There’s always an increase in the risk of cargo theft.”

Outpost expands national truck parking network

Parking and storage provider Outpost recently announced the addition of four locations to its nationwide network.

The new properties in the Chicago area; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Fontana, California; and Laredo, Texas, boost Outpost’s presence in key logistics hubs across the U.S., Trent Cameron, Outpost co-founder and CEO, said.

“As our network continues to expand, motor carriers increasingly look to Outpost as a strategic partner for positioning their fleets,” Cameron said in a news release. “Our four new properties strengthen our ability to help these fleets operate more efficiently in critical freight corridors across the US.”

Outpost’s expansion includes:

A 30-acre facility in West Dundee, Illinois, adding more than 1,000 spaces for tractor-trailers and other heavy-duty vehicles.

Fourteen acres in Fort Lauderdale, adding 370 truck parking spaces.

A 4.5-acre property in Fontana, adding nearly 100 parking spaces. The facility is Outpost’s first in California.

An 11-acre yard in Laredo, which includes 320 parking spaces.

Austin, Texas-based Outpost is a network of truck terminals and fleet yard facilities with more than 20 locations and 11,000 spaces across the country.

Averitt opens new trucking facility in Texas

Transportation provider Averitt recently opened a service center in Tyler, Texas, near Interstate 20.

The service center is 20,500 square feet, has 33 dock doors and includes two on-site fuel islands, a secure parking area, and driver amenities such as break areas, restrooms and showers.

Tyler is about 100 miles east of Dallas.

“With improved infrastructure and increased capacity, we’re positioned to meet the growing needs of our customers,” Bryan Walters, service center director in Tyler, said in a news release.

Averitt is a transportation and logistics provider headquartered in Cookeville, Tennessee. The company has more than 5,700 tractors and 13,000 trailers, with more than 80 locations across the country.

China-based Intretech plans $60M factory in Mexico

Electronics component manufacturer Intretech has begun construction on its first plant in North America, near the Mexican city of Monterrey.

Intretech will invest $60 million in the facility, which will produce electronic intelligent control components. The plant will create 1,500 direct jobs and is scheduled to begin operations in 2025, according to officials for the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.

The facility aims to target markets in North America, including industries in automotive, medical, energy and consumer products.

Intretech was founded in 2011 in Xiamen, China. It has four manufacturing plants in Asia and Europe, with a global workforce of 9,000 employees.

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