Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Averitt completes major facilities expansion in San Antonio; Bennett Family of Companies opens new facility in Texas; Aerospace manufacturer completes $28M expansion in Mexico; and Mode Global acquires freight brokerage division of Jillamy.
Averitt completes major facilities expansion in San Antonio
Less-than-truckload carrier Averitt is ready to launch its new 85,000-square-foot distribution and fulfillment warehouse along I-35 in San Antonio.
In addition to the new distribution and fulfillment warehouse, Averitt also expanded its cross-dock trucking terminal to 80 doors, and added a new maintenance facility.
Construction for a drive through fueling station at the site will be finalized next year.
Ed Habe, vice president of Mexico sales for Averitt in San Antonio, said nearshoring is already increasing the demand for warehouse and logistics services across Texas, especially cities near or along the border.
San Antonio is located between Laredo and Austin, along the I-35 corridor. The city is about 160 miles from the Mexican border in Laredo.
“San Antonio has already seen the effect of nearshoring,” Habe told FreightWaves in an interview. “Carrier Global already has a warehouse here. Toyota and Navistar have major manufacturing plants here, partly because of San Antonio’s proximity to Mexico. They all have Mexican companies or customers in Mexico. Navistar sends freight back and forth across the border to its plant in General Escobedo, Mexico. San Antonio is part of the I-35 corridor, the busiest freight corridor in the U.S., which extends all the way to Laredo and then all the way into Mexico.”
Averitt is a transportation and logistics provider headquartered in Cookeville, Tennessee. The company has 4,500 tractors and 14,750 trailers, with 85 locations across the country. Averitt’s team consists of more than 8,000 associates.
Nearshoring — the relocation of production and manufacturing operations from one country to another to be closer to end consumers — has been creating manufacturing growth across Mexico as shippers look for supply chains that are closer, cheaper and more favorable to doing business with the U.S.
Averitt isn’t the only trucking company or transportation provider looking to bolster its capacity for growth in the cross-border traffic between the U.S. and Mexico.
Some of the latest companies to expand or open new facilities in Texas are Kuehne+Nagel, Ryder System and Maersk. Uber Freight recently opened a new office in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo, which lies across the border from Laredo, Texas.
Related: Kuehne+Nagel expanding in Texas to meet rising manufacturing demand
Averitt’s San Antonio facility provides services such as truckload and LTL, as well as distribution and portside container drayage from a nearby Union Pacific railyard.
Averitt originally opened its location in San Antonio in 2001. When it opened, the facility included about 17,000 square feet of space, with 38 dock doors for trucks. Today, Averitt’s San Antonio facility has about 30 truck drivers and 50 associates.
Averitt’s strategy in Texas is focused on the long-term growth of U.S.-Mexico trade and creating a network of facilities that can serve any cross-border customer’s needs.
Across Texas, Averitt has more than 800,000 square feet of distribution and fulfillment warehousing, including facilities in Dallas, Houston, Austin, Laredo, El Paso, Harlingen and Del Rio.
The expansion in San Antonio also comes on the heels of the company’s announcement in September that it had opened a new service center in Tyler, Texas, a 20,500-square-foot facility with 33 dock doors.
“One of our strengths is diversification,” Habe said. “Maybe one area, like less-than-truckload may be slow, but our dedicated division is busy, or warehousing is busy.The diversification definitely gives us strength in that we’re not just tied into one type of service. We basically provide diverse services all over Mexico and the U.S., but this expansion in San Antonio is exciting. It’s almost three times the size of what we have in Laredo. It’ll definitely be a backup for Laredo. If the warehouse in Laredo is full, we have San Antonio.”
Bennett Family of Companies opens new facility in Texas
Bennett Family of Companies recently expanded with a new location in Dayton, Texas.
The facility houses Bennett On-Site Services, BOSS Heavy Haul and Bennett Motor Express. The location includes a 10,000-square-foot office and a 38-acre yard.
“The size and the location of the new facility will be instrumental in helping us achieve our goal of becoming the premier specialized carrier in the Gulf Coast. With this move, we can better leverage opportunities to offer value-added services in the marketplace,” Mark Brewton, general manager for Bennett Motor Express Houston Co. Store, said in a news release.
McDonough, Georgia-based Bennett Family of Companies offers specialized transportation, logistics, heavy haul and heavy lift services and solutions.
Aerospace manufacturer completes $28M expansion in Mexico
ITP Aero recently completed the expansion of its factory in Quetaro, Mexico.
The Querataro facility produces low pressure turbine static parts and tubes for the aerospace industry.Officials for ITP Aero said they are launching new product lines from the facility.
The $28 million expansion will add 250 jobs over the next three years, the company said. The Querataro facility, which opened in 1998, currently employs 1,000 workers.
“We were pioneers in making Queretaro a world-class aerospace hub,” Eva Azoulay, CEO of ITP Aero, said in a news release. “Our growth and investments here demonstrate our commitment to the Mexican aerospace sector, developing new technological capabilities and keeping Queretaro at the forefront of aerospace technology.”
ITP Aero is based in Zamudio, Spain. The company designs, develops, manufactures aircraft engines. They also provide maintenance, repair and other services for engines used in airlines, helicopters, business aviation and defense applications.
Mode Global acquires freight brokerage division of Jillamy
Mode Global, a third-party logistics firm, has acquired the freight brokerage business of Jillamy Inc., a supply chain and logistics provider, and an independent agent of Mode Transportation.
The acquisition strengthens Mode Global’s position in the marketplace by integrating Jillamy’s freight expertise and resources, according to a news release.
Mode Global will assume Jillamy’s logistics and freight management solutions, while Jillamy’s warehousing, packaging and fulfillment services remain unchanged.
As part of the transaction, Mode Global will gain more than 200 employees and add facilities in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Illinois, South Carolina, Maryland and Ontario to its existing national footprint.
Dallas-based Mode Global is the eighth-largest truckload freight brokerage andone of the largest non-asset intermodal providers in the U.S.