The logistics sector in Mexico has a deficit of between 25% and 30% in infrastructure and labor , so it is necessary to carry out actions that allow its growth to keep pace with the demand of this industry.
José Ignacio Aguado, Director General of Innovation, Services and Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Economy (SE) , stated that by 2030 the logistics market in the country will register accelerated growth.
“We cannot aim for only 7% growth because we will continue with this deficit trend in our country; we have to grow more than double so that by 2030 we are already on par with the sector’s demand,” he stated during the conference “Logistics and Infrastructure Integration of Mexico in the Context of the USMCA, Nearshoring and Regional Development,” held at the College of Civil Engineers of Mexico (CICM) .
He mentioned that Mexico ranks 10th among the main countries exporting goods and 12th in imports, and highlighted the integration of the economy between Mexico and the United States, noting that 81.7% of the country’s exports go to the United States, while Mexico buys 36% from its northern neighbor, “almost double what we buy from China (19.3%), and the United States buys more from China than we buy from them.”
Therefore, he said it is necessary to improve and incorporate new technologies into the current infrastructure in airports , ports, highways and railways, to help reduce logistics costs and position the country as a global logistics platform.
He noted that by 2030 the goal is to consolidate Mexico as a logistics hub , increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in strategic sectors, generate formal jobs with job training, and expand logistics infrastructure in response to industry growth.
He emphasized that the goal is also to promote import substitution of critical inputs, strengthen energy and food security, reduce regional gaps through the Economic Development Hubs for Well-being (Podecobis), and increase regional competitiveness within the framework of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) .
Furthermore, he explained that the trend in the logistics sector is towards greater technology and digitization , data analysis and intelligence, automation, as well as the last mile focused on sustainability.
Meanwhile, Reyes Juárez del Ángel, Vice President of Planning and Foresight at CICM, maintained that Mexico is going through an exceptional period to consolidate itself as the main industrial logistics center of North America, driven by nearshoring (relocation of production lines) and by its position as the main trading partner of the United States.
However, he considered that the country is going through “a governance labyrinth” in logistics . “We came from a simpler effort, with less dependence and bureaucracy, and now logistics has become significantly fragmented.”
He specified that the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) manages the highway network and rail transport with the support of the private sector, while the Ministry of the Navy (Semar) manages the seaports; airports and border crossings are subject to diverse commands such as the Navy, private entities and the Ministry of National Defense (Defensa) ; the pipelines have been quasi-private infrastructure of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) , while customs “operate with a control approach that does not always synchronize with the trade facilitation that is required and that is implicit in the Mexico Plan”.
“This fragmentation is indeed worrying and will surely require a great collaborative effort to provide the country with the necessary resources to coordinate the entire logistics system, synchronize it, and put it into perspective. Just across the border with the United States, three billion dollars pass through daily, which implies significant pressure and the need to have the capacity for the more than 50 international crossings and bridges that Mexico operates,” he concluded.
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