Following the start of the United States government’s executive order requiring B1 visa holders to be proficient in English in order to operate on the country’s roads, no major impacts on cross-border transport have been recorded so far . However, the measure is believed to be part of President Donald Trump’s actions to combat cabotage .

In the framework of the discussion  Intermodal and foreign trade, challenges 2025 , organized by the National Association of Vehicle Tracking and Protection Companies (ANERPV) , Diego Anchustegui, president of the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (AMTI) , said that currently the impact is not so strong because there is not a great need for transportation, derived from the tariff policy of the United States, among other factors.

“We still have a cushion now. How will it continue to affect us? Well, we’ll see over time. We’re not seeing a huge impact. We don’t know how many operators there are with B1 visas or how many are operating in the United States who don’t speak English. All of the associations don’t know the impact yet,” he stressed.

It’s worth remembering that on April 28, the White House announced that Trump signed an executive order requiring all trucking operators to demonstrate English proficiency to operate on U.S. roads. June 25, the date designated by the U.S. government to rigorously implement the measure, marked the beginning of a stricter phase.

The measure establishes, among other factors, that operators with B1 visas must communicate in English with the authorities of their northern neighbor or else face fines and disqualification.

In his participation, Anchustegui commented that these types of measures were taken due to alleged abuses in the handling of B1 visas , which are granted to operators for trips originating in Mexico and ending in the United States, and vice versa.

He emphasized that U.S. authorities detected that cabotage—transporting merchandise within U.S. territory—was taking place, and that Mexican operators were using this permit to make a trip between Los Angeles, California, and Chicago , Illinois , which is not permitted.

“This began to attract the attention of the authorities, and they sought to resolve this problem, which was pushing this permit to its limits,” said the commercial director of EASO Transport .

At the event, he concluded that in light of this situation, there was a change in the regulation of this type of visa .

As you may recall, there have already been cases of trucking operators whose visas have been revoked for alleged cabotage, as Alfonso Millán, delegate of the National Chamber of Cargo Trucking (Canacar)  in Tijuana, explained to T21.

“They revoked their visas and forced them to sign a form voluntarily withdrawing their request for admission to the United States. Only one refused to sign, and that’s why he remains detained, awaiting an immigration judge,” Millán said.

The case involved 20 Mexican operators who were intercepted in early July by immigration authorities at a checkpoint set up at one of the exits of Calexico, California, after which they were accused of allegedly engaging in cabotage , an activity prohibited for Mexican trucking.

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El cargo Combating cabotage may be behind the requirement for B1 operators to use English. apareció primero en T21.

LA PAZ, BCS.– Since his arrival at the start of 2024 in the general management of Baja Ferries , Nino Liaño Egozcue has visualized an opportunity to deepen the diversification of the company’s services, which although it has its origins in the ferry that connects La Paz with the continental massif, today explores terrains in accordance with the reality of the logistical needs of companies .

For Baja Ferries, it is clear that the company’s core business , which is based on the ferry that connects La Paz with the ports of Topolobampo and Mazatlán , both in Sinaloa, must continue to be promoted ; there are strategic areas for development.

“We must accelerate our three main avenues: our core business of ferries, with innovation, capacity, and experience; to which we must add comprehensive logistics services, where the launch of BF Connect is key; and, as a third avenue, short-sea shipping,” said Nino Liaño.

For logistics operators like BF Connect , the goal is to meet the needs of each load and customer by offering the most efficient solution , and to do so, all transportation and supply chain design options must be explored , explained Nino Liaño.

According to the executive, 90% of the services offered by BF Connect are currently outside of ferry operations, “and on the contrary, we are finding opportunities as an IMC (Intermodal Marketing Company) , that is, an integrator of intermodal services,” Liaño Egozcue noted.

Adding to this dynamic is the offer of cabotage and short sea shipping services, through which they offer containerized and general cargo services to serve the ports of Guaymas, Mazatlán, Manzanillo, and Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico , as well as various locations in Central America.

“In March 2024, we had one vessel focused on these types of services, and today we have five vessels serving our customers’ needs, and we’re exploring even more opportunities,” the executive explained.

Baja Ferries is focusing on a One-Stop-Shop concept , where customers can find all the solutions for comprehensive logistics.

To strengthen its service, Nino Liaño announced that it is in the process of launching its freight forwarding offering to meet the needs of clients with a more global focus, where Baja Ferries, with this structure, can be more strategic in its objectives.

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El cargo Baja Ferries, “full steam ahead” with its vision of diversification apareció primero en T21.

“They revoked their visas and forced them to sign a form voluntarily withdrawing their request for admission to the United States. Only one refused to sign, and that’s why he remains detained, awaiting an immigration judge,” Millán said.

The case involves 20 Mexican operators  who were intercepted last week by immigration authorities at a checkpoint set up at one of the exits of Calexico, California, after which they were accused of allegedly engaging in cabotage , that is, transporting merchandise within U.S. territory, an activity prohibited for Mexican trucking .

“No Mexican operator can pick up merchandise in the United States to move it to another point within the same country. We can only transport cargo from Mexico to the United States, not operate within the country,” Millán explained, emphasizing that this restriction is part of the guidelines governing binational activity and is familiar to companies and operators.

What’s worrying, however, isn’t just the labeling, but the procedure itself . Therefore, the Canacar (National Police) in Tijuana traveled to the Mexican consulate in the area to thoroughly understand the status of each operator and provide institutional support.

“We must respect the regulations,” Millán emphasized, stressing that it’s also about supporting operators to ensure they don’t engage in any improper procedures.

In this regard, he emphasized the importance of operators receiving further training on the rules they must follow when operating in the United States.

Millán also noted that they are analyzing whether this case could have been a pharmaceutical shipment , since certain products in this industry require longer processes , in which the operator must wait in the United States until receiving health or customs approval to continue moving the merchandise.

This case occurs in a context of growing pressure on Mexican trucking , where in addition to the issue of cabotage, border notifications have already begun to be issued for English language proficiency.

“Warnings have already been issued along the entire border from Texas,” Millán said.

However, he clarified that the arrests did not occur due to a lack of English proficiency.

He assured that investigations into the matter are still ongoing, and that CANACARE is monitoring any developments or updates.

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El cargo “They took away their visas and made them sign out”; CANACAR is supporting the case of drivers for alleged cabotage in the US apareció primero en T21.

By Osiel Cruz and Enrique Duarte

The Mexican port authority is continuing to push ahead with its project to boost cabotage activity for maritime transport of goods in the country.

In an interview with T21, the General Coordinator of Ports and Merchant Marine (CGPMM) , Captain Manuel Fernando Gutiérrez Gallardo, outlined some of the strategies that will be applied in this new federal administration focused on materializing this project inherited from the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

T21: Mr. Coordinator, during the previous administration, a project was presented to promote short-distance maritime routes and encourage cabotage. In the end, not much progress was made. In that sense, is this a program that will continue in this administration?

Manuel Fernando Gutiérrez Gallardo: Admiral Secretary [of the Navy] Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, since he took office, has instructed us to work to develop cabotage , which is a priority project that the Navy has had since the previous administration.

I’m going to tell you about the progress, because this is going to take off. We first established internal working groups between the Interoceanic Corridor [of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec] , the Coordination [General of Ports and Merchant Marine], the priority area, which is Unicapam (Port Authority and Maritime Affairs Unit) as well, because we discovered that they have been making efforts separately . We have already met and the Coordination is leading these meetings.

We also had a meeting with Cameintram (Mexican Chamber of the Maritime Transport Industry) , which are the Mexican shipowners, because we want cabotage to be done by Mexican shipowners, with Mexican ships, Mexican crew . But we are also making a collaboration agreement with SAT (Tax Administration Service) to have the information on the Cartas de Porte ( Bills of Lading), which are used by the transporters, to see how the cargo movement is in the country. That will give us information on where to where we can implement cabotage routes in the country to complement land transport.

What advances do we have that are of great interest to Mexican shipowners? We are going to give them preference by modifying the rules of operation of the port , with that they are going to save thousands of dollars from waiting to enter the port. Mexican ships that do cabotage will have preference to enter the port, to the dock, because a ship costs between 15 thousand and 20 thousand dollars a day to be stopped; so in that reduction in the costs of using infrastructure, we are giving discounts of up to 50% for the use of infrastructure, we are already discussing it with the Asiponas (Administrations of the National Port System). I am telling you in advance. It will be a surprise for everyone. Integrated and preferential rates for Mexican shipowners that do cabotage.

We have already identified the path to follow with other authorities, we want to reduce the ISR (Income Tax) for Mexican shipowners (…) it will help a lot to encourage Mexican shipowners to bring ships and Mexican flag carriers, but also, just as the land transport companies did, which credit the IEPS (Special Tax on Production and Services), diesel, we want it to be credited to Mexican shipowners, to the ships.

So with operating rules, cost reduction for infrastructure use and the issue of integrated rates, who wouldn’t want to become Mexican ?

We are going to sit down with the owners of the loads or with the buyers of the load, the sellers, and the buyers of the load, but also with those from Canacar (National Chamber of Cargo Transportation) , those of land transportation, to make routes as if it were multimodal transportation (…), even with rail transportation we are going to hold meetings so that they make commercial agreements , so that all this happens.

A market study was commissioned , financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and we have already received the results. We are sharing them with Mexican shipowners, but they need the other part, the cargo issue.

T21: Coordinator, you mentioned that changes will be established for the operating rules. Do these changes also consider the interaction between customs and ports?

MFGG: It has nothing to do with cabotage because it is national cargo. However, the ports and the internal infrastructure of the ports are designed to receive foreign trade cargo and all the roads that go from the docks converge on a route that is the fiscal route, there is no cabotage route, there are no cabotage routes. What we are looking for is to create cabotage routes , so that they do not mix with the fiscal route, the cabotage route for national cargo (and) the fiscal route for foreign trade cargo.

[The port of] Lázaro Cárdenas is already designed like this. Lázaro Cárdenas has a coastal shipping dock , a coastal shipping route, and they are putting that dock out to tender right now so that they can finish dredging. We all have to do the same, that is why customs says there are no problems with the issue of coastal shipping, because customs is also participating in the working groups and all those details are coming out.

Q21: Are there other elements that are considered in this plan to encourage cabotage?

MFGG: We are close to acquiring the training ship. It is a multipurpose ship that will work on cabotage, short distance maritime transport through a floating contract with some of the interested parties, but the ship will also serve to comply with the study plan of the students of the three nautical schools, as required by the STCW, which is the training agreement for merchant seamen, officers.

The first payment is already being made this month and the delivery time for this new multipurpose ship is six months, so we will launch the training ship in 2025. The good news or the premise is that the resources have already been authorized , the acquisitions committee has already approved it unanimously.

T21: What was the cost?

MFGG: Approximately 13 million dollars. It is a 153-meter-long ship with capacity for 900 20-foot containers. It will have the capacity to accommodate 300 students. It will be self-sustaining, the freight itself will pay for its maintenance. We will not require an additional budget, but the freight itself will be used to pay for the training of the boys, but also for the ship’s docks, maintenance, operating costs and its upkeep.

We invite you to stay tuned for the January 2025 issue of T21 magazine, where other topics discussed in the interview with the head of the CGPMM will be published.

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El cargo CGPMM to Implement Changes to Boost Maritime Cabotage apareció primero en T21.

Maritime cabotage in Mexico has received a new boost with the inauguration of a specially built dock in the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, although this infrastructure project, which was completed over a period of two and a half years, will take even longer to begin operations.

On September 18, federal port authorities and the Michoacan port itself held an event that highlighted, among other things, the completion of the construction works of the coastal pier , where an investment of 590 million pesos was allocated to have a water front of 350 meters in length, an operations yard and a lighting system.

In an interview with T21, Vice Admiral Anselmo Osorio, Director General of the National Port System Administration (Asipona) Lázaro Cárdenas , indicated that the start of operations of the cabotage dock is now linked to an administrative-legal process in which the port authority will launch, at the end of October or beginning of November, a public tender in which interested parties will be able to compete for a contract for partial transfer of rights to offer loading and unloading maneuvering services at the dock.

Osorio Fraga explained that they are currently gathering information from organizations such as the Institute for the Administration and Appraisal of National Assets (Indaabin) , the General Directorate of Ports and the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) , among others, for the development of the public tender. He also indicated that at least five companies have expressed interest in participating in the contest , although he did not reveal their names.

“The potential transferee who is interested must meet a series of requirements in which he must explain to us (…) what the dock is going to be used for, specifically that it can be as a multi-use terminal that includes cabotage, that is, the dock offers the services so that it can operate in it, from mineral bulk, grains, grain cargo, the same containers, if the ship as such has the cranes to do the maneuver, fluids, that is, general cargo, which includes, I repeat, cabotage itself so that the merchandise is loaded or unloaded from the dock to be transferred to other docks nationwide,” explained the general director of Asipona Lázaro Cárdenas.

In addition, something that will also be included in the contract for the partial transfer of rights is that the winner of the tender will have to carry out a dredging process to reach a depth sufficient for ships to be able to enter the dock. The required depth is between 15 and 17 meters. “It is part of the investment that they are going to make to be able to operate the dock,” said Anselmo Osorio.

During the six-year term of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, port authorities stated that maritime cabotage would be given a greater boost given the country’s opportunity to have two extensive coastlines, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, for the movement of goods. They even implemented special rates to encourage companies.

However, specialists consulted by T21 say that there are several factors that discourage companies from considering this type of transport in their supply chains. The first is the long distances between their production centers and ports , that is, the main industrial zones are located in the central, Bajío and northern regions, since there is a strong commercial connection with the United States, and for this reason land transport has prevailed over maritime transport.

Another situation that arises is the contact that cabotage goods must have with Mexican customs, which generates a delay in time and costs for companies, despite the fact that it is not international cargo that requires tax compliance or the presentation of certificates.

However, the low level of cabotage activity in the country is also reflected in the limited supply of merchant marine under the Mexican flag that provides regular services between ports.

In the first seven months of 2024, Mexican ports registered a total movement of 31 million 255 thousand 116 tons in cabotage services , that is, 7.8% less compared to the same period last year, according to statistics from the General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine (CGPMM) of the Ministry of the Navy .

In the specific case of Lázaro Cárdenas, the port totals one million 737 thousand 363 tons in cabotage maneuvers , which represents an annual drop of 29.5%, according to the reference periods.

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El cargo Coastal Dock in Lázaro Cárdenas: A Slow-Moving Project apareció primero en T21.