domestic intermodal traffic from Mexico has been on the rise in recent months since rivals Canadian Pacific Airlines Kansas City (CPKC) and Canadian National Airlines (CN) launched two new services in May. By the end of July, Mexico's intermodal transport volume was up 34 percent.
According to the North American Intermodal Association (IANA), during the May launch of CPKC's Mexico Midwest Express and CN's Falcon Advanced Service, freight traffic from Mexico to the Midwest of the United States increased by 25 percent, while North American domestic intermodal traffic decreased by 4.5 percent.
CPKC, in partnership with Schneider National and Swift Intermodal, provides container services for the Mexico Midwest Express, transporting containers picked up by trucking companies at Mexican manufacturers and ports to Chicago's main rail hub, where all major railroads exchange traffic-from Union Pacific and BNSF divert traffic.
The Falcon Premium Train is a joint service of CN, Ferromex and Union Pacific Railroad with interchanges in South Texas and Chicago. One of the service's top customers is Hub Group.
Schneider Intermodal Senior Vice President Michael Baumgart Michael Baumgardt said that CPKC services frequently hit three-day shipping times from Laredo to Chicago, four days from Monterrey to Chicago and four-and-a-half days from San Luis Potosi.
According to IANA, Mexico's market share is only 2 to 3 percent of domestic multimodal transport. While Schneider and Hub Group acknowledge that East-West transcontinental U.S. intermodal transportation will always dominate the overall market share, both companies expect Mexico's share to grow to 5% over the next five years.
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