Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Tecma acquires flatbed trucking firm; Mexican carrier achieves CTPAT certification; Boyd Corp. opens factory in Juárez, Mexico; and massive new industrial/logistics park set for Arizona.
Tecma Group acquires New Mexico carrier Omega Trucking
Expecting an increase in the volume of cross-border logistics across the U.S.-Mexico border, the Tecma Group of Companies recently acquired flatbed operator Omega Trucking.
The acquisition of Santa Teresa, New Mexico-based Omega took effect Jan. 1.
The Omega flatbed operations will be merged into Tecma’s Transportation Services Division.
Omega co-founder Miriam Baca Kotkowski will stay on as president of Tecma Transportation Services. No financial details of the transaction were released.
“Miriam’s experience and excellent leadership in the cross-border trucking industry is a driving reason for this merger,” Tecma Group CEO Alan Russell said in a statement.
Kotkowski said Omega has worked with Tecma for years “moving their flatbed cargo ‘door to door’ into Ciudad Juarez.”
“We always admired their professionalism and ethics; their culture is very open and progressive,” Kotkowski told FreightWaves. “We got to know each other better during the immigration crisis affecting our borders, where our mutual interest to complement our needs (Tecma Transportation is mainly a dry van carrier), and similarities in our corporate culture became very evident, this led to joining the Tecma family.”
The acquisition doubled the trucking capacity for Tecma Group, as well as diversifying and increasing the company’s presence across the U.S.-Mexico border.
“This acquisition allows us to provide the much-needed door-to-door service for our clients in Mexico and the United States,” Tecma’s vice president of global supply chain and logistics, John Rippee, told FreightWaves.
Omega Trucking was founded in 1998 and has 24 power units and 26 drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The carrier specializes in hauling oversized loads in the U.S. and across the border into Mexico on its flatbed trailers. Omega Trucking also has a location in McAllen, Texas.
The merger with Omega could allow Tecma to move up to 45,000 cross-border shipments during 2021, according to Rippee.
“These will occur all along the border with Mexico and in conjunction with our in-house U.S. customs brokerage,” Rippee said.
Founded in 1986, the Tecma Group of Companies is based in El Paso, Texas, and helps companies foreign to Mexico set up manufacturing operations in the country. Tecma currently operates about 65 maquiladoras (factories), including 33 plants just across the border in Juárez, Mexico.
In 2010, the Tecma Group formed its transportation division specializing in cross-border van services, supplying raw materials to its plants. Tecma Transportation, based in Mexico, has 53 employees, with operations in El Paso and McAllen, as well as Tijuana, Mexico.
In the past, Tecma transportation only handled Tecma plant operations, and is expanding by offering trucking services to other companies on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Tecma is a service company first and foremost. Vertical integration for us is expanding our role in the services our clients need,” Rippee said.
Rippee said more trucking company acquisitions are being considered by Tecma.
“We need to integrate our current new team, and then we will be assessing further acquisitions,” Rippee said.
Rippee added that Tecma could be opening more factories in Mexico in the near future.
“We pace ourselves regionally at one opening per quarter per region,” Rippee said. “We operate in three regions. So we have some capacity for a few more this year.”
Kotkowski said the U.S.-Mexico trucking market should remain strong during 2021.
“I see great growth, Mexico is a top supplier to the U.S., the numbers keep increasing as consumers seek affordable pricing during a tight economy,” Kotkowski.
Autotransportes Pilot achieves CTPAT certification
Mexican trucking company Autotransportes Pilot was recently granted Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) certification from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Autotransportes Pilot is now a partner in the CTPAT program, a U.S. government-business program aimed at improving the international supply chain and U.S. border security.
As a CTPAT Partner, Autotransportes and its clients could benefit from a reduced number of CBP border examinations and see a reduction in border wait times for entry into the U.S., resulting in faster delivery times.
The company, which has more than 50 trucks, is based in Guadalajara, Mexico. Autotransportes Pilot has a sister company, Blue Coral, in San Diego, according to Gerardo Jiménez Zavala, general director.
“We operate as far as Los Angeles, and in this type of operation we are encouraged by the CTPAT certification to have more opportunities in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas,” Jiménez Zavala said in news outlet T21, which first reported the news. “It also allows us to guarantee solutions for clients with national operations.”
Boyd Corp. opens factory in Juárez, Mexico
Boyd Corp., part of the chemical manufacturing industry, recently announced it is opening a factory in Juárez, Mexico.
The 430,556-square-foot factory will produce liquid cooling systems for technology used in electronics, battery systems and data centers for customers across North America, Boyd CEO Doug Britt said in a release.
“We’re expanding our footprint to enable greater capacity and higher volume production in support of the innovation coming from our technology roadmap, customer localization and accelerating market demand,” Britt said.
Pleasanton, California-based Boyd Corp. has 33 manufacturing plants in 11 countries and more than 2,600 employees.
CRG announces a 335-acre industrial-logistics park in Arizona
Real estate developer CRG recently announced The Cubes at Glendale, a 335-acre, 5.5 million-square-foot industrial park in Glendale, Arizona.
The project, a joint venture with Phoenix-based Bird Dog Industrial, will begin construction of a 1.2 million-square-foot speculative warehouse on March 1. The warehouse will feature 40-foot clear heights, 213 dock doors, 50-by-56-foot column spacing and parking for 740 vehicles and 470 trailers.
CRG closed on the first 260-acre parcel of land for the development, with a second expected to close in the second quarter.
“This site gives us a unique competitive advantage in the market to offer next generation facilities at a quality and size that we expect will get the attention of several national users,” CRG President Shawn Clark said in a release.
The location of the project is 21 miles from Phoenix and 180 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona.
Borderlands is sponsored by Forager. More information on Forager’s offerings can be found at: https://www.foragerscs.com/.
Click for more FreightWaves articles by Noi Mahoney.
More articles by Noi Mahoney
DHL Supply Chain closing Texas facility