CANCÚN, Q. ROO.- The Transportation Services Index (TSI) , carried out by the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and which measures the demand for freight services, averaged a total of 137.57 points in 2023, by 2024 this indicator dropped to levels of 136.84 and in the first seven months of 2025 it stood at 137.23 units.
The United States is facing a phenomenon known as the “Great Freight Recession ,” which combines very flat demand for transportation services, falling service rates , and rising operating costs , leading to the collapse of several companies.
In this context, there is an increase in companies with services with operators called B1 (who have a United States visa), and can perform international transport services, that is, services that have as origin-destination a point in the United States or Mexico, but that cannot perform cabotage service, that is, connecting two or more points in the United States with cargo that is not international .
According to experts from Mexico, the United States, and Canada, the market situation has prompted some Mexican companies with B1 operators to meet the needs of shippers in the United States, who, in order to pay low rates, use operators with this status for cabotage. “It is not normal for a B1 operator to take up to four weeks to return to Mexico ,” some businesspeople consulted agree.
Within the framework of the National Chamber of Freight Transportation (Canacar) National Convention , the panel “The USMCA under review: What’s at stake for national freight transportation?” was held . One of the topics discussed was the situation faced by foreign operators in the United States.
Last August, a traffic accident occurred in Florida involving a truck and a private vehicle, resulting in the deaths of several family members. “What happened in Florida has raised questions about whether licensing is being done correctly ,” said Ed Gilroy, Chief Advocacy and Public Affairs Officer of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) .
In this regard, Martín Rojas, Senior Advisor for the Americas of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) , stressed that the United States must strengthen its oversight to ensure that B1 licenses are being used correctly, as a way of protecting the operators themselves , who in some cases are left helpless by their companies when a situation arises.
From the participants’ perspective, the situation with B1 operators must be prioritized to avoid impacting the mobility of goods within the United States and to prevent them from spreading schemes like those in some entities, which seek to limit the operations of transport units to operators with foreign licenses . This situation, from the perspective of Greg Arndt, Co-Owner & Vice President Jade Transport Ltd. and the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) , goes against the trade facilitation that is required as a region.
Manuel Sotelo, vice president of Canacar’s Northern Region, emphasized that one demand from the trucking industry for authorities in the North American region is that greater trade facilitation be urgently needed to allow for closer integration with the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
