While in the United States and Canada 120 intermodal trains circulate daily and about 51,000 53-foot containers are loaded onto the rail network each day, in Mexico only about 1,700 units are moved, a difference that reflects both the lag and the growth potential of the sector.
“In Mexico, it would take us more than three weeks to load onto the train what they load in just one day,” said Javier Vera, president of VMODAL , during the panel “Tracks and Boxes: The Intermodal Shift” held within the framework of Container Week organized by the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (AMTI) .
In this context, he pointed out that currently 81% of the country’s industrial plants do not have a rail connection, which makes intermodal service the main bet to expand the presence of the railway.
“Those companies that don’t have rail spurs are the ones that can use intermodal transport; there are even companies that do have rail spurs but have large volumes of raw materials and want finished products, they can also use it,” he said.
Vera pointed out that only between 10 and 12% of 53-foot containers in Mexico are moved by rail , while in the United States the share of rail in land freight movement reaches significantly higher levels.
He mentioned that intermodal traffic alone registered a growth of close to 10% during the last year , even in a context where the national railway system reported a general contraction in volume, which means that containerized cargo continues to find an increasingly competitive alternative in the train.
Furthermore, he explained that on long-distance journeys, particularly those exceeding 800 kilometers, rail can generate savings of between 5% and 15% compared to road transport , in addition to offering advantages in terms of safety and sustainability.
However, he mentioned that the challenge for the railway industry is not necessarily about building new tracks, but about increasing the share of trains compared to trucks.
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