Ft. Worth, TX – BNSF Railway and Mexico’s Ferromex (FXE) are offering a new joint intermodal service between Chicago and Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico.

“Mexico is the United States’ third largest trading partner with a yearly trade of just over $500 billion. This translates into 14,000 trucks crossing between our borders on a daily basis,” said Steve Bobb, BNSF executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

“Our partnership with Ferromex to launch this service from Chicago to Silao means that automakers and manufacturers in the US and Mexico will now have direct access to the advantages of intermodal rail in the Bajio region.”

The joint operation, he said, “offers Mexico’s fast growing manufacturing sector in Bajio a simple way to reduce trucking costs and delays.”

Trains carrying intermodal containers will interchange at El Paso, Texas to and from FXE, Mexico’s largest railroad, which will operate the trains between the border crossing and Silao five days a week.

The new service, said the BNSF, offers advantages en route such as lower cost than over-the-road trucking and faster transit times in comparison to a single truck driver; a centrally located intermodal hub within 100 highway miles of the Bajio’s major manufacturing centers of Leon, Irapuato, Celaya, Salamanca, Queretaro and Aguascalientes; and a dedicated customer support team to track shipments from the in-gate in Mexico to out-gate in the US 24 hours a day/7 days a week.

The service “is better at the border when compared to trucking because there is no cross-border trucking across congested highway bridges. Southbound shipments are moved in-bond (which means shipment documentation is handled at the final destination) to minimize Mexico Customs clearance delays,” the railroad said.

Once the shipments arrive in Silao customers can clear their cargo with the customs broker of their choice through Mexico Customs. Northbound shipments are ‘pre-cleared’ by a customs broker of the customer’s choice with US Customs.

06/12/2014