Borderlands Mexico: Cross-border trade helping Mexico narrow gaps in technology

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Since 2015, Mexico-based technology startups have attracted almost $10 billion in venture capital backing. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)
Since 2015, Mexico-based technology startups have attracted almost $10 billion in venture capital backing. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Cross-border trade helping Mexico narrow gaps in technology; Investment firm acquires 2.3M-square-feet of logistics space in Houston; CJ Logistics America leases 1M-square-foot facility near Dallas; and Texas car hauler acquires three logistics firms. 

Cross-border trade helping Mexico narrow gaps in technology

While Mexico continues to grow as a critical hub in global supply chains, more technological investments need to be made for the country to unlock its full trade potential, said Fernando Correa, CEO and cofounder of Cargobot.

Correa believes that by addressing technology challenges between shippers, trucking companies and logistics professionals, Mexico could be well-positioned for even more trade growth in 2025.

Mexico is currently the top U.S. trade partner, with cross-border commerce totaling $798 billion in 2023. This year, U.S.-Mexico trade is on pace to surpass 2023, with trade totaling $706.9 billion from January through October.

“From my perspective, Mexico is very key for the future of the next three, four years in shipping, because we have a lot of traffic,” Correa told FreightWaves in an interview. “We need to attend to that traffic. We have to organize the traffic. Because in between Mexico and the U.S., we’re moving 13,000 shipments every day.”

Founded in 2016, Miami-based Cargobot is an international freight technology firm that connects shippers and carriers via its platform for managing truckload, less-than-truckload and partial truckload freight across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Cargobot recently released Planimatik, a planning tool aimed at simplifying onboarding carriers and streamlining day-to-day logistics operations for shippers. The software also includes tools to connect shippers with customs brokers.

“I think technology is facilitating the way that you can verify the profile of the carrier,” Correa said. “The carriers are all different. You want to have a reliable network of carriers. But the truth is, the ease that you can move your shipment in Mexico is a little more complicated than we have in the United States. You believe in the network of the carrier in the United States. In Mexico, it is more complicated because you need to verify the network of carriers for security reasons and technology is facilitating this.”

<br>“From my perspective, Mexico is very key for the future of the next three, four years in shipping, because we have a lot of traffic,” Fernando Correa, CEO and cofounder of Miami-based Cargobot. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)<br>

“From my perspective, Mexico is very key for the future of the next three, four years in shipping, because we have a lot of traffic,” Fernando Correa, CEO and cofounder of Miami-based Cargobot. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Since 2015, Mexico-based technology startups have attracted almost $10 billion in venture capital backing, according to research and communication firm Quantico’s 2024 Venture Capital Report for Mexico.