Thread: DHL Global Forwarding launches U.S.-Mexico LTL trucking service

DHL Global Forwarding launches U.S.-Mexico LTL trucking service

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Jul 20, 2015 5:12PM EDT



As more international companies open shop in Mexico to serve both Latin American and U.S. markets, DHL Global Forwarding is working to ease complex cross-border transactions for shippers. The air and ocean freight arm of DHL last week launched Trans Border Connect, a service that helps shippers move less-than-truckload freight over the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Our new service offers customers who already do business in Mexico, or want to break into this market, the opportunity to have their goods picked up any day of the week via this new road freight solution,” Tim Robertson, vice president of sales at DHL Global Forwarding, U.S., said in a statement. The service also offers end-to-end supply chain visibility in Mexico, he said.

DHL is launching its cross-border service as both the number of trucks and the value of goods crossing the U.S.-Mexican border is rising. U.S.-Mexican truck border crossings rose 2.9 percent in the first quarter, reaching 1,372,253, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In the same period, the value of goods carried across the border by truck increased 9 percent, reaching $68 billion, BTS data show. Last year, the number of trucks moving between the U.S. and Mexico increased 4.2 percent to 5.4 million. The value of the goods trucked between the countries, however, increased more than twice that rate, rising 9.1 percent to $266.8 billion.

Trucking “is seeing tremendous growth out of Mexico,” Gene Sevilla, vice president of international supply chain solutions at Ryder System, said in an interview last week. “You have plants from all over the world, Japan, Europe, and America, coming into Mexico to manufacture goods. The Germans, French and Italians are investing heavily in Mexico,” he said.

In alliance with the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Ryder held its second annual thought leadership forum in Mexico this month. About 40 high-level executives from a broad range of industries attended the event, Sevilla said. Those companies are attuned to the U.S. export market, but also the opportunity to use Mexico as a regional manufacturing and trading platform.

“Everybody looks at the opportunity being created by (Mexico’s) 45 free trade agreements,” said Sevilla. Among the biggest issues those logistics executives face are customs delays at the U.S.-Mexican border, equipment imbalances and security, as well as cost, he said.

DHL Global Forwarding plans to address some of those concerns with Trans Border Connect by acting as a single-source provider for door-to-door surface moves, working with multiple carriers. The company’s control tower in Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, has a team that specializes in getting cross-border shipments through customs while eliminating multiple carrier bills and hand-offs.

The service initially will handle shipments to and from five strategic markets in the U.S. and Mexico, with all border crossings at Laredo, Texas. In the U.S., shipments are available to and from Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Los Angeles and Chicago. In Mexico, shipments are available to and from Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterey, Queretaro and San Luis Potosi.

Laredo is the largest crossing point for trucks on the U.S.-Mexican border. The number of trucks crossing at Laredo increased 4.8 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, while U.S.-Canadian truck traffic at Detroit, the second-largest border crossing, dropped 1.5 percent.

DHL Global Forwarding said the sectors most likely to use the service are the automotive, engineering, manufacturing and aerospace industries. Trans Border Connect won’t accept hazardous materials, textiles, toys, finished electronic items and pharmaceuticals, among other shipments, but DHL will quote shipments of those goods separately, the company said.

Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@ihs.com

http://www.joc.com/trucking-logistic..._20150720.html

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