LOS CABOS, BCS – Intermodal transportation in Mexico is experiencing “the best moment in its history.” This was the assertion of Luis Hernández, president of the Mexican Intermodal Transportation Association (AMTI) , at the inauguration of the XXVII Intermodal Congress , where he outlined a landscape of expansion for the industry, marked by record figures , new cargo dynamics, and a growing participation of the sector in the country’s economic and logistical agenda.

Far from presenting a discourse focused solely on statistics, Hernández opted for a narrative that sought to define the current state of Mexican intermodal transport as a result of years of investment, coordination, and integration among operators, terminals, railways, and freight users.

“Today, intermodal transport in Mexico is not only growing, it is experiencing the best moment in its history, and this is not just a figure of speech. The real data tells us this ,” he stated to industry representatives.

The leader explained that during the first quarter of 2026, the intermodal system moved more than 333,000 loaded containers , a figure that represented a 10% annual growth and the best start for the sector in at least seven years. However, he emphasized that the main change lies not only in the volume, but also in the diversification of growth.

“For the first time, success is not in a single sector. Growth was widespread . The cross-border, domestic, and maritime markets all grew together simultaneously, as a single sector,” he stated.

Within that performance, Hernández particularly highlighted the dynamism of the cross-border segment , which registered a growth of 15% and reached a historic record driven by the increase in rail imports from the United States, especially non-automotive cargo.

“We are finally moving away from our dependence on automotive freight as an intermodal industry. We are transforming into a general freight industry,” he said.

According to the president of AMTI, this transition represents one of the most relevant structural changes for the industry in recent decades, because it strengthens the integration of intermodal transport with the consumer, manufacturing and food sectors , expanding the range of goods that use rail and containers as a logistics axis.

This transformation is also reflected in the domestic market, historically considered one of the most complex segments for Mexican intermodal transport . Hernández acknowledged that for years the operating balance of domestic services was negative, although he asserted that signs of maturity are now beginning to appear in key corridors.

“April reflected a 99% balance. In the 17 years I’ve been monitoring this, we’ve never seen a 99% balance. That is, for every load we add, we lose one load,” he commented.

He added that the growth of the domestic market is also being driven by greater confidence among Mexican companies in rail and intermodal services for the movement of consumer goods.

“We went from moving eight thousand containers in 2019 to more than 21 thousand in the first quarter. That’s a growth of more than 150 percent . It’s proof that rail and intermodal transport are now part of the daily life of Mexican companies,” he said.

At the same time, maritime corridors maintained a positive trend, exceeding 210,000 units moved between the country’s four main seaports, with a growth of 7%, in a context where port-rail connectivity is beginning to consolidate as a strategic component for national logistics competitiveness.

However, Hernández insisted that behind the figures there is a network of investments, infrastructure and human capital that has allowed the sector’s growth to be sustained.

“More has been invested in terminals and intermodal corridors in the last 24 months than in the last 10 years,” he said.

In that regard, he acknowledged the work of railway operators, terminal staff and workers in the sector who, he said, keep “the country awake and connected” , while stressing that intermodal transport has ceased to be merely a logistical alternative and has become “the economic engine of the country”.

The president of AMTI also highlighted the strengthening of institutional dialogue between industry and the federal government, particularly on issues related to competitiveness, foreign trade, infrastructure and railway safety .

“We have brought this pride and this technical strength to the most important dialogue tables with the government, with the Ministry of Economy and with Customs ,” he commented.

Within those conversations, he highlighted the participation of the National Service for Agrifood Health, Safety and Quality (Senasica) in promoting corridors for refrigerated cargo, especially from projects led by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) to move refrigerated imports by rail.

Hernández also revived the debate surrounding nearshoring – which he preferred to call “nearsource” – and asserted that Mexico is going through a historic juncture resulting from the global reconfiguration of supply chains.

“Now we are truly living the Mexican moment ,” he affirmed. “Geography is on our side, the free trade agreement (USMCA) is here to stay, and we need to understand how we will operate within this new free trade agreement.”

From that perspective, the leader called on the industry to maintain unity and accelerate efforts to build a more efficient, sustainable and secure logistics network , capable of responding to the new demands of foreign trade.

“The real challenge I propose to you today is not to surpass a certain figure next quarter; the challenge is for us to continue walking together, to continue believing in innovation, in leaving a more sustainable world for those who come after us,” he concluded.

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El cargo Intermodal accelerates its historic moment: AMTI apareció primero en T21.

NUEVO VALLARTA, NAY.- The intermodal transportation industry in Mexico has made progress in gender equality , although just over a decade ago the majority of jobs were held by men, as was or still is the case in other sectors.

Hoshi Jurado , AVP Intermodal at Grupo México Transportes (GMXT) , acknowledged that when he joined the intermodal transportation industry 13 years ago, he thought: “Wow, this is like a mechanic’s shop . ”

Jurado has been a clear example of the integration and advancement of women in intermodal transportation , but she has also become a conduit for more of her peers to occupy positions in this sector.

During her participation in the panel Women in the Intermodal Industry , held at the XXVI Intermodal Congress 2025, organized by the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport (AMTI) , she proudly emphasized that most of the team she currently leads has a balance tilted towards women .

“Not just for quotas. We don’t have to be a number; women have to be taken into account for their knowledge and abilities (…) the intermodal industry is driven by women,” she stated.

Linda Hernández has been working in the railroad industry for 17 years , although it wasn’t her first career choice when she was younger. Now, as Intermodal Sales Director at Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) in Mexico , she acknowledged that the sector has provided her with stability and renewal.

But these characteristics have not come by themselves; his time in the steel industry has provided him with mentors who “have been spectacular,” he stated during his participation in the panel. However, he also indicated that he has had to make sacrifices in his growth , although the key here is to maintain constant communication with companies to find areas of flexibility and support.

Linda is clear about her goal of supporting women in the railway sector, which is why, since February 2022, she has been the representative in Mexico of the League of Railway Women (LRW) , which promotes the careers of its members (around three thousand professionals) with scholarships or mentoring programs.

“If a woman grows, educates herself, and develops, she will surely have an impact on the companies where she works,” she said.

In the case of Vianey de la Mora , current general director of the Mexican Association of Railways (AMF) , her passion was not trains but the arts, although her career led her towards the railway sector in the construction and engineering projects area, but as she herself said, “everything happens for a reason.”

The industry leader asserted that companies have become more flexible to accommodate more women, although they have faced various obstacles that have made them “tougher-skinned . “

“It would be ideal to overcome the barrier of equity by that of capabilities,” he shared with attendees at the 26th Intermodal Congress 2025.

For her part, Paloma Burnell , Senior Vice President of Sales Operations at STG Logistics , recalled that a few years ago at the same company where she works, in a meeting with 22 executives only two participants were women , a reality that has been changing over time.

“We must be aware of the development of women’s leadership. The most important thing is to have a growth mindset, be curious, and keep exploring,” she said.

The panelists asserted that there will be more women in the intermodal transportation industry in the future, a step that can only be achieved with the empathy of all participants, in a world that still prioritizes the allocation of positions among men, a trend that must be eradicated .

El cargo Intermodal transport, an industry driven by women apareció primero en T21.

CANCUN, Q. ROO.- Coincidences on the track. The main railway companies specialized in the movement of goods in Mexico, the United States and Canada observe that the Mexican market presents a wide potential for growth, which has generated the need to trigger investments and the construction of new intermodal services that cover the main industrial zones in North America.

“At GMXT (Grupo México Transportes) we are betting on infrastructure, we know that intermodal is what is coming, so in the following years we will be very focused on that, terminal growth, expansions of our routes, Laredos and double tracks to increase capacity,” said Jesús Rubín, Commercial Director of GMXT, during his participation in the panel Evolution and opportunities in the development of railroads , held within the framework of the XXV Congress of Intermodal Transportation of the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transportation (AMTI) .

Prior to the closing of this edition, GMXT announced that by 2025 it will make an investment of 410.3 million dollars for various expansion, security and efficiency projects that will allow it to grow and improve its service, as well as optimize productivity performance.

Paul Hirsch, associate vice president in Mexico for BNSF , added that this growth potential led them to enter into a commercial and operational alliance with GMXT and JB Hunt , with the launch in January of this year of an intermodal service between Monterrey, Silao-Bajío and Pantaco-Mexico City, which has allowed them to offer shorter transit times for cross-border movement with the United States.

He also indicated that they are also launching an “overweight corridor” between Mexico and Dallas Fort Worth, together with other logistics and transportation partners, such as EASO Transport ; they are also reviewing, together with AMTI, the possibility of developing temperature-controlled products in cross-border services between Mexico and the United States.

“There is a lot of potential for growth,” said Hirsch, who was awarded the Silver Container in the Lifetime Achievement category by AMTI this year.

For Humberto Vargas, vice president in Mexico for Union Pacific (UP) , one of the main railway companies in the United States with a commercial presence in Mexico for 30 years, the train is a fundamental piece in the consolidation of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) and the attention for companies that are migrating to this region due to the effects of the relocation of their productive assets ( nearshoring ).

The UP executive contextualized that currently around 18 thousand cargo transport units cross the border between Mexico and the United States every day, while the railroad, in general, crosses about 800 containers , which is just under 5% of what is traded between both nations. “Mexico is an option for growth, we see it as a growth engine,” he said.

In April of last year, Canadian National Railway (CN) , UP and GMXT announced the creation of the Falcon Premium intermodal service , just one week after the merger between Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) to form Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) , creating the first seamless rail line in the entire North American region.

“The pandemic has led us to create commercial and strategic alliances (…) we are going all in,” said Rossana Cárcamo, director of Supply Chain and Business Development in Mexico and the United States for CN, another of Canada’s major railway companies, with a presence in Mexico for 25 years.

According to Adriana Covarrubias, Senior Manager of Intermodal Sales at CPKC Mexico, market trends have included more Asian companies moving their operations to North America, leading to an increase in demand for freight transportation in the North-South corridor.

In response to this situation, CPKC has also made new services and investments that promise to reduce the time it takes to transport goods, including its intermodal service Mexico Midwest Express (MMX) , launched in May of last year and linking the markets of Chicago, Kansas City, Texas, Monterrey and San Luis Potosí; as well as the construction of the second border railway bridge in Laredo, Texas, for 120 million dollars.

At another level of agreement, representatives of the railway companies indicated that they will seek to have more companies join the intermodal services that are currently offered, since there is a wide potential for converting goods that use road transport on long routes to do so via railroad, and for the last mile to be exclusively for road transport. But to achieve this, the directors emphasized that it is necessary to have operational standards on the intermodal ramps to facilitate access to more clients in Mexico.

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El cargo Mexico, a growth opportunity for North American railroads apareció primero en T21.

CANCÚN, Q. ROO.- No one denies that in recent years Mexico has been a center of attraction for investments for companies seeking to relocate their production centers or supply chains to consumption centers, following the lessons left by the covid pandemic.

But the country needs to address inefficiencies in infrastructure and logistics operations, which reduce its competitiveness and attractiveness for new industrial investments in the so-called nearshoring , according to leaders of the logistics and transportation sector gathered at the XXV Congress of Intermodal Transportation, organized by the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transportation (AMTI) .

“We have 27 thousand kilometers of roads in the country and only 10% is dedicated to maintenance, while there is nothing under construction. Today our roads are saturated and we experience it every day,” said Leonardo Gómez, executive president of the National Association of Private Transport (ANTP) .

The representative of the large companies that use transportation indicated that it is necessary to increase public investment in infrastructure in view of the great commercial activity that Mexico has with the United States, where there are at least six million land border crossings.

In addition, he identified that the challenges faced in nearshoring include mobility and reliability , legal certainty in the event of theft and blockages, as well as the applicability of the law.

For his part, Iker de Luisa, general director of the Mexican Railway Association (AMF) , said that there is a latent risk of supply chain disruption in the country , given the blockades, thefts or migration problems that reduce the operability and capacity of the railways.

“We are just coming out of one (railway blockade on the road that connects Mexico City with Veracruz), but there is the challenge of working on these cross-cutting issues that concern the government,” he said.

John Willy, president of the Latin American Confederation of Customs Agents (CLAA) , said that in the customs issue, authorities should focus on improving the facilitation of the flow of goods and not only on the issue of national security.

“We have to get people to agree. We have to come together and come up with viable solutions so that the authorities will listen to us,” he said.

Even in the case of military commanders gaining access to strategic positions in Mexican customs, “it has not helped 100%, on the contrary, it has harmed us because we have to teach them,” according to Juan Pablo Pacheco, president of the Mexican Association of Freight Agents (Amacarga) .

Pacheco said that this private organization has been working to achieve greater visibility from the authorities, given the weight that freight forwarders have on supply chains.

On the other hand, Gerardo Tajonar, president of the National Association of Importers and Exporters of the Mexican Republic (ANIERM) , indicated that it is important to pay attention not only to foreign investments that come to the country, but to realize that self-service companies in the United States are looking for Mexican products in light of their country’s policy of closing its borders to Chinese products.

“But they cannot find them because they have disappeared. We have to develop the added value of companies. We must have a national plan for technological development and also certified products from reliable suppliers,” he said.

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El cargo Mexico is ready for nearshoring, but with inefficiencies: logistics and transportation sector leaders apareció primero en T21.