The Economics of a Cross-Border Trucking Company

Trucks carried $642 billion of trade between the US and Mexico in 2025, almost three out of every four dollars that crossed. Yet the average US truckload carrier kept less than half a cent of profit per dollar. This is the economics of cross-border trucking: how one trailer changes hands between a Mexican carrier, a transfer truck and a US carrier, what it costs to run a truck, why waiting at the border is the real enemy, and why 2026 is squeezing the whole business. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: one trailer, three trucks 1:21 The relay: how a load crosses 4:30 The scale: millions of crossings 5:57 The money: costs, rates and margins 8:56 The pressure in 2026 11:04 Who wins 12:00 Final thoughts SOURCES (checked October 20, 2026) Truck crossings by port, 2025: US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing Data US-Mexico freight by mode, 2025: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, annual report Mexico's federal trucking fleet: SICT, El autotransporte federal en cifras (June 2025), via TheLogisticsWorld Cost per mile and operating margins, 2025: American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), via Transport Topics Spot and contract rates, diesel, September 2026: DAT New tractor prices: LogRock (industry guide) Drayage crossing fees: EP Logistics (industry guide) How freight crosses (relay, through-trailer, transload, C-TPAT, Carta Porte): FleetOwner; Cargado; Transport Geography Otay Mesa East: Times of San Diego; El Imparcial Cargo theft and driver shortage in Mexico: Canacar, via El Universal; CESVI México, via TheLogisticsWorld English proficiency enforcement: US DOT figures via FreightWaves; FTR estimate via Overdrive Mexican carriers in the border zones: FMCSA data via Transport Topics Heavy truck tariff: Truck Parts & Service (Section 232) Music and sound design are original, made for this video. Do you drive, dispatch or broker freight across the border? Tell me what I got wrong in the comments. #trucking #mexico #supplychain