It’s been at least five years since Grupo Bafar has sought to jump on the bandwagon to transport primarily frozen goods such as potatoes, pork cheeks, beef tripe, chicken, and others; however, it hasn’t been able to make this happen.

Now, with Canadian Pacific Kansas City ‘s (CPKC) new refrigerated service, this exchange is possible.

“Multimodal rail is an excellent alternative, and I’d like to find that echo with BNSF or Union Pacific , with which we’ve conducted tests and believe it should work. We haven’t been able to finalize anything, but it’s an indispensable tool when we have high costs for diesel, refractories, and human factors,” Velo describes.

He believes that one of the factors that has prevented them from reaching an agreement is that their plants are located far from the rail infrastructure, so they are also looking for suppliers who offer this service to be able to load the refrigerated box. However, he affirms that CPKC’s project to move refrigerated vehicles would also be a great option for the company, since Laredo, Texas, is one of the main areas through which they receive their merchandise to move it to their distribution centers.

In this regard, Velo states that they are “eyeing this railroad company as an option,” and are therefore seeking a meeting with its executives. “We plan to approach them and see what alternatives exist to finalize something, because we have very strong growth in that area. Our plant in La Piedad, Michoacán, which we supply through Laredo, is experiencing tremendous growth.”

The correct route

CPKC Railroad is moving forward with its plans to transport perishable goods. It has already added 1,000 53-foot refrigerated combined transport containers to its fleet network, thereby providing more shipping options to customers using the premium combined transport service, especially for the Mexico Midwest Express (MMX).

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El cargo Refrigerated on board, the tracks are lined up apareció primero en T21.

Grupo Bafar , a Mexican food company, is building a new distribution and logistics center in El Paso, Texas, which will be ready by July of this year at the latest . This infrastructure will allow it to continue its growth over the next few years.

Ana María Velo, the company’s International Trade Manager, told T21 that they will also have their corporate offices and, with both infrastructures, “they will have the advantage” to continue positioning themselves in the United States.

“We intend to increase our brands and products in different parts of this country, as well as export to Canada and other regions,” he said.

He explained that this new facility, in its first stage, will cover all the needs of the group, and will have up to three thousand storage positions for refrigerated, frozen and dry products.

For the second stage, they expect a similar growth in positions, thereby providing services to the company and to third parties.

“This center covers storage and we will have 12 crossdock doors for the start-up, as well as inspection, a CTPAT warehouse with all the authorizations required to cover the needs of foreign trade and all the requirements in the area of ​​cargo and something else, that is, like nuts or chili, products that are sold on the border, especially in Ciudad Juárez or Laredo,” he said.

Regarding the expansion into Latin America, which T21 reported at the time, they specified that they managed to export sausages to Cuba during 2024 , however there was a halt in this shipment, but they are already in negotiations again.

However, shipments to Chile, Puerto Rico, and Japan have begun and continue, while with China “there have been some details, but we are working with the authorities to finalize it, we have many products to send and we believe that they will be very successful.”

It is worth mentioning that Grupo Bafar exports hams such as turkey or pork, as well as boneless chicken, buffalo or natural, among a wide variety of other value-added products.

“We have a plant in Chihuahua where we produce them, and that is a plus for positioning a product. We have some nuggets that caused a boom and we are venturing into beef with the Durango plant. We have managed to enter the United States and other countries,” he said.

Although 2024 was a year of changes and challenges, for Grupo Bafar it was also a year of growth, recording revenues of just over 28,491 million pesos, which represented 11% more than the previous year.

Consolidated gross profit was 8.92 billion pesos, an increase of almost 16% and a gross margin of 31 percent. Meanwhile, EBITDA showed a very outstanding performance, reaching 5.207 billion pesos, with a margin of 18 percent. Finally, consolidated net profit closed at 2.051 billion pesos, with a net margin of 7 percent.

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El cargo Grupo Bafar’s distribution and logistics center in Texas will be ready this year apareció primero en T21.