The document, signed by Luis Ruiz Hernández , head of the Federal Motor Transport Directorate (DGAF) , establishes that the permit must be placed in a visible and legible place, include the vehicle identification number and a QR code with information from the Federal Motor Transport Institutional System (SIAF).

During its validity, it will have the same effects as a metal plate , and may be supplemented with beaconing elements as an additional identification measure, the document states.

However, the announcement confirms what T21 anticipated since September : the federal license plate crisis would reach October without a single metal license plate available, forcing the sector to rely on printed documents to maintain its operations.

What began as a temporary alternative has now become the sole means of vehicle identification for federal motor transport.

But far from resolving the underlying problem, the notice announced last September revived criticism on the Cofemer website . Transporters warned that the SICT continues to lag in processing procedures and that the measure repeats errors from the 2001 reorganization program, when a lack of oversight led to discretion and impacts on operational safety.

The lack of clear guidelines on physical and mechanical inspections was also questioned . In Cofemer’s comments, users noted that, despite the modifications published in June, the DGAF is not currently enforcing this requirement, which—they warned—excludes vehicles operating on federal roads and bridges from the regulations.

Although the notice argues that the measure seeks to ensure service continuity while the metal plates are delivered, it does not define when or how the delivery will occur.

For the union, this lack of definition prolongs legal uncertainty and reveals a lack of institutional coordination between the departments responsible for vehicle control.

Thus, the formalization of the “provisional permit” confirms the validity of temporary solutions: mechanisms that ensure circulation, but not certainty, in a scenario where bureaucracy advances faster than regulation .

Comment and follow us on X:  @karinaquintero  /  @GrupoT21

El cargo No plates! SICT formalizes provisional permits; transporters warn of regulatory gap apareció primero en T21.

The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) confirmed on Tuesday that the ordinance requiring road markings on freight and passenger vehicles will not be mandatory, nor will there be any penalties for those who fail to do so.

The regulation, published on February 7 in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) , requires owners of federal trucking fleets to identify their units—with the alphanumeric data corresponding to their license plates —using decals, paint, or tarps, depending on the vehicle’s configuration.

With this measure, federal authorities aim to combat the growing insecurity on the country’s roads , arguing that beaconing would provide greater visibility for transportation units through the use of video surveillance, drones, or helicopters, and would give police forces a greater opportunity to quickly locate them in the event of a crime.

“We are not obligated to do the impossible, it is an initiative and we have the idea of ​​covering more than 90% of the units that are located, but those (units) for which there is no possibility due to their characteristics, are not obligated to do the impossible (…) it is not punishable, it is a provision that exists, that arose from the request of the National Guard, but it will not be punishable,” said Paulino Herrera, executive director of Supervision of the General Directorate of Federal Motor Transport (DGAF) , an office integrated into the SICT, during the monthly meeting of the Mexican Intermodal Transport Association (AMTI) .

The regulation published in the Official Gazette (DOF) established a 90-day deadline to identify the units, starting February 8. Paulino Herrera stated that the measure has been well received by the transportation sector; according to the official, the National Chamber of Passenger and Tourism Transportation (Canapat) has stated that it has made “great strides” and that they hope to complete it before the upcoming Easter holiday period.

“What we’re being told so far, for example, is that most of the units being deployed to the National Guard ‘s Balam operation —the National Guard is currently reporting a figure of 6,700 units—are already marked,” Herrera said.

According to a press release distributed this Tuesday, March 11, “the SICT aims to mark and identify a fleet of 1.8 million vehicles , both motor vehicles and trailers, that circulate on the federal highway network.”

According to data from the DGAF, as of the end of January 2025, the fleet of federal freight transport vehicles in Mexico consisted of 1,441,492 units, divided into 726,109 motor units, 714,727 towing units, and 656 industrial cranes.

Regarding the business structure of federal freight transport , the authority has registered 215,473 companies, of which 80.2% are micro-enterprises (with one to five units), 16.8% are small (6 to 30), 2.3% are medium-sized (31 to 100) and 0.7% are large (more than 100).

In terms of passenger and tourism , the DGAF has a vehicle fleet of 186,423 units.

Cost of marking, in dispute

Paulino Herrera commented to the AMTI membership that the comments received from the transportation sector prior to publication in the Official Gazette (DOF) were related to the cost of marking, which, according to the official, represents an amount of 300 to 400 pesos per unit for some companies  if carried out manually and with templates, although other companies report higher costs if the application of reflective labels is considered.

“But that’s not the case. We haven’t been told that costs exceed 1,500 pesos per unit, including trailers in some cases,” he said.

These data contrast with the information that T21 has obtained from trucking companies that report that the market cost is higher, around two thousand 500 pesos for matte paint , but if it is requested in gloss paint as recommended by the authority, the cost rises to five thousand pesos per truck due to the type of quality of the materials.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s freight transport sector continues to suffer from road safety issues. Data from Overhaul , a risk management company, indicates that in 2024, 12,300 crimes were reported to authorities nationwide, with Puebla accounting for 23% and the State of Mexico 22%, placing them as the states with the highest number of highway cargo thefts.

Comment and follow us on X: @EnriqueDuRio / @GrupoT21

El cargo Marking of road markings on motor transport will not be mandatory and there will be no penalties, confirms the SICT. apareció primero en T21.

The process of marking federal transportation units continues to raise doubts almost a month after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) .

While companies are moving forward with implementation, there are still questions about the actual costs , the durability of the materials and the feasibility of meeting the deadline set by the authority.

Before the approval of the markings, in the preliminary project presented to the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer) , the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) estimated that the cost would be 250 pesos per unit.

This calculation was based on a vehicle fleet of more than 316 thousand units, which would give a total cost of 79.1 million pesos for the implementation of the measure.

However, Patricia Vizcaya, Legal and Regulatory Director of the  National Association of Private Transport (ANTP) , in conversation with T21, warned that in reality the costs are higher , without giving figures.

He explained that the actual price of marking exceeds that stipulated in the draft , since it depends on suppliers, quality of the material and necessary replacements, which can represent a much higher expense for transporters.

“It doesn’t cost 250 pesos, it doesn’t cost 300 pesos. It’s a significant cost for companies and it will depend on the provider they choose,” Vizcaya explained.

He also warned about the quality of the materials , since if they are not strong enough, they could require constant replacements, further increasing the expense.

In addition to the cost, another aspect that has generated concern is the application of beacons on units with specific designs or corporate colours.

“If the color scheme is getting in the way and you cannot put it exactly where it says, the recommendation is to place it in another space without affecting the company’s image,” said Vizcaya.

Vizcaya also pointed out that the 90-day deadline for compliance with the markings may seem short , but stressed that dialogue is ongoing with the authorities to achieve greater flexibility in its implementation.

“The three months they are indicating may seem short, but they are three months that we can surely promote so that there is an extension and that we continue with these important extensions while they finish with the entire fleet,” he explained.

He added that ANTP will continue working with SICT to extend deadlines so that companies can adapt without affecting their operations.

He suggested that fleets prioritize marking vehicles that circulate on routes with a higher incidence of crime, since this measure is part of the Balam Strategy, promoted by the National Guard .

Vizcaya stressed that marking is part of a national security strategy that seeks to facilitate the identification of vehicles in the event of theft, speeding up their possible recovery.

In light of this, the ANTP has requested that the SICT and the National Guard complement the markings with technological tools such as GPS and panic buttons , so that it does not depend solely on visual identification.

Will there be penalties for not marking?

One of the issues that has generated controversy is whether there will be sanctions for those who do not implement the markings.

Vizcaya clarified that, so far, there have been no fines or inspection operations. However, it warned that the sector must remain attentive to how the implementation of this measure will evolve and its impact on the operation of companies.

It is important to remember that marking consists of identifying vehicles using alphanumeric characters visible at different points on the vehicle. Depending on the type of vehicle, it should be placed on the sides, roof and rear, using reflective materials to ensure visibility.

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El cargo Beacons on transport, is it true that it costs 250 pesos? ANTP resolves the doubt apareció primero en T21.

40 or 20 feet. It doesn’t matter. The big question currently being asked by the intermodal transport sector in Mexico is whether each of the containers entering and circulating through the country will have to comply with the warning of the auto transport beacon , a measure recently introduced in the country by the federal authority with which it is intended to combat insecurity on the roads.

If this scenario is dimensioned, the proportions of its application are immense .

“I cannot imagine the thousands of containers that enter through [the ports of] Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas having to have a special number just for entering Mexico. Our position is never one of opposition, but of collaboration. We want to find joint solutions with the government so that these regulations are viable without affecting intermodal operations,” said Diego Anchustegui, president of the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (AMTI) , during the monthly meeting with its members.

On February 7, the General Directorate of Federal Auto Transport (DGAF) , belonging to the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) , published a “ Notice ” in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) where it announced the new government provision in which the owners of federal auto transport fleets are requested to identify the units -with the alphanumeric data corresponding to their license plate-, by means of decals, paint or tarps, depending on the configuration of the vehicle.

The authority itself defined in a technical annex that “vehicle configurations that, due to the characteristics of their body or modality, do not have a tarp on the container or trailer, must be covered with a tarp with the identification number (hoppers, pipes, platforms without load, vehicles without wheels, cages, containers, vehicles under a leasing scheme and/or vehicles for temporary internment from the USA to Mexico) .”

So far, the authority has not defined that marking of vehicles is mandatory or the sanctions for those who do not do so ; but it has specified that the “Notice” came into effect the day after its publication in the DOF and the owners of the fleets will have 90 calendar days to do so.

“The concern we should have is that this could eventually become a law with penalties,” said Humberto Vargas, vice president in Mexico for Union Pacific (UP) , who attended the monthly AMTI meeting.

Faced with this great challenge, AMTI has requested a meeting with the Legal Department of SICT “to explain the particularities of intermodal transport, especially the difficulties that this would bring for maritime and cross-border intermodal transport. Implementing this measure on thousands of containers that enter the country through ports or borders would be impossible,” according to Anchustegui.

In the maritime sector alone, the country’s ports received just over 3.8 million 20-foot containers (TEU) in import services in 2024 , according to official data.

Some of these containers will be loaded onto the train to be transported to an intermodal terminal close to the consumption or production centres. The last mile of their journey will be made by tractor-trailer. Or from the port they will be transported by tractor-trailer to their final destination. In logistics jargon, the use of both modes of transport is known as intermodality.

Marking the vehicles is part of the strategy that the federal government is seeking to implement to reduce robberies of goods in transit. The idea of ​​having greater visibility of the identification of transport units would be an advantage with the use of drones at the time of a criminal incident.

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El cargo Beaconing creates uncertainty in intermodal transport apareció primero en T21.

On February 7, the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) published a notice informing federal auto, cargo and passenger transport providers and users of the new identification of vehicles that circulate on highways and bridges under federal jurisdiction. A process known as marking of units.

The provision, which has been in the works for more than two years, was presented in different industry forums by the General Directorate of Federal Auto Transport (DGAF) , where based on the figures for theft from auto transport at the end of 2023 and where more than nine thousand crimes were recorded, “it was offered that the beaconing measure could avoid losses to auto transport of more than four billion pesos a year, so it seemed like a great idea,” shared a manager of the auto transport industry.

Based on the respective draft, in numeral nine the DGAF justifies, “According to information from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP) , the number of robberies to transporters increased by 3.9% compared to the previous year, reaching 9,182 recorded events, which is equivalent to an average of 25 robberies per day and translates into a loss of 500,000 to 7 million pesos if they are high-value products. Derived from the above, we multiply the 9,182 robberies by the value of the merchandise and for which the lowest value of $500,000 will be taken, it gives us a total of $4,591,000,000, which translates into the benefit that will be brought by the implementation of beaconing in vehicles. The above can be seen broken down in Annex 1 attached for further reference.

Regarding this measure, another manager consulted by T21 emphasized that part of the proposal of those in charge of the DGAF at the time was to have four drones from the National Guard to monitor the roads and with the identification of the beacons and two helicopters the units could be recovered. “Four drones for the entire country, and with the problems that are faced, is nothing, it makes no sense ,” he said.

According to the sources consulted by T21, there are many doubts about the operation and surveillance of the marking of federal transport units, “especially in configurations that are not dry boxes, for example, tanks, container chassis, and other equipment that does not have a large surface area. How is it done, and if it is by interpretation, then we run the risk of suffering extortion or abuse by the authorities?” , the sources consulted stated.

One point that stands out is that according to the project data at the Regulatory Improvement Commission (Conamer) , there is an estimate of around 316,633 units that will have to be subject to this type of identification, “that is, it will not only be for new equipment, but for those that are in circulation, in such a way that the measure will be retroactive,” they shared with T21.

“Within federal transportation, there is a fleet of 1,800,000 vehicles that, strictly speaking, should carry out vehicle marking; however, there are currently companies that carry out vehicle identification prior to providing federal transportation services, so this would no longer generate a cost for them. As a result of the above, around 40%, or 316,633, of the aforementioned fleet will have to carry out vehicle marking,” states the DGAF draft bill.

“Don’t forget that we are living in a period of technological adoption. In the various groups where I work, the complaint is the same: why, instead of thinking of physical solutions, don’t we think of incorporating chips, using telemetry and telematics of the units? That is, solutions in line with the reality of the organized crime we face,” warned the director.

In conclusion, for various industry players, this measure does not address the fundamental need experienced on a day-to-day basis, and can only generate more complexity for the daily operations of motor transport.

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El cargo Beaconed, risk of falling into extortion or corruption apareció primero en T21.