Borderlands Mexico: TCS is betting on Monterrey as cross-border trade gets more complicated
Cross-border freight is facing a more complicated operating environment, and one carrier is leaning into Monterrey as a key hub. This week’s Borderlands Mexico update highlighted TCS’ focus on Monterrey while also tracking major industrial real estate moves in Texas that could reshape freight patterns along key corridors.
Monterrey has long been a major manufacturing and logistics center in northern Mexico, and it sits in a strategic position for freight moving to and from U.S. border crossings. As cross-border trade becomes more complicated, the emphasis on a strong Monterrey footprint signals how capacity and planning are shifting toward established industrial markets that can support cross-border operations.
On the U.S. side, new and redeveloped industrial sites point to continued investment in freight-heavy regions:
- Union Pacific plans a 2,000-acre Mainline Texas Industrial Park near Houston, a development that could influence rail-served freight flows and add pressure and opportunity for local drayage and regional trucking capacity.
- A former Waco bottling plant is set to be redeveloped into an I-35 distribution center, positioning new warehouse activity along one of the most important north-south trucking corridors in Texas.
Alongside the freight and infrastructure developments, the update also noted a major change at the border: illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped to their lowest levels in more than 50 years. The decline was attributed to sweeping detention and deportation policies.
For drivers, these combined developments matter because they shape where freight is staged, how freight is routed, and what kinds of facilities are likely to generate consistent outbound and inbound volumes. Monterrey’s role in the cross-border network, new industrial capacity near Houston, and a distribution redevelopment tied to I-35 all point to continued freight concentration in established Texas and northern Mexico trade lanes.