Surface Transportation be presented and stamped at the terminal. Outside of Monterrey, customs offices are open only during weekday business hours and a few hours on Saturdays. That leaves a narrow daily window to get freight cleared and loaded.
“ We’ re not running Quantum de Mexico service at wacky hours when there’ s no customs office open,” Luis Hernández, GMXT’ s vice president of intermodal, told the Journal of Commerce.“ We’ re working within the existing process to clear cargo during office hours and move it accordingly.”
The formula can work in the US, but cross-border service is a different beast.
But if a shipment misses that limited processing window, achieving the service guarantee becomes difficult.
If there is a problem while the train is in transit, a new set of issues arises. In the US, BNSF can unload the container and place it onto J. B. Hunt’ s extensive truck fleet. In Mexico, however, J. B. Hunt does not own trucks or employ company drivers. It must rely on third-party trucking companies.
Jon Gabriel, BNSF’ s group vice president for consumer products, said contingency plans are ready if a disruption occurs between Monterrey and the border.
“ It includes lift capability at Eagle Pass [ Texas ] itself,” he said.“ We can drop a container there and use the J. B. Hunt truck fleet to recover if something happens en route. We have many of the same levers and processes in place as we do in US.”
Crossing into the US
Having a backup plan in Eagle Pass is important because the US-Mexico border comes with its own set of complications.
Crossing the old, single-track bridge between Piedras Negras, Mexico, and Eagle Pass requires three separate crews: a Mexican crew to bring the train to the border, a second to take it across the bridge and a third US crew to haul it north.“ Trains come to a complete stop so the hand-off crew can disembark and walk back to their side of the border,” Union Pacific said in a May 23 statement. The process can take up to 40 minutes and increases the risk of cargo theft and congestion for other trains.
CPKC and Schneider bypass these delays entirely with the bridge in Laredo that opened a second span last December.
In May, UP completed a pilot program in which Mexican crews were allowed to bring trains directly into its Eagle Pass terminal, reducing its exposure to theft, border delays and crew changes easily taking a half hour. BNSF hasn’ t tested such options with customs agencies on both sides of the border, but says the single-track bridge isn’ t limiting operations.“ Physical bridge capacity is not a constraint,” BNSF’ s Gabriel said.“ The train from Monterrey to [ Fort Worth ] is consistently beating its schedule. The route will not limit our ability to meet the service commitments to our customers.”
email: ari. ashe @ spglobal. com
J. B. Hunt’ s 95 % on-time guarantee is based on meeting a pre-arranged delivery window from the shipper. Ian Dewar Photography / Shutterstock. com
www. joc. com July 7, 2025 | Journal of Commerce 41