Borderlands Mexico is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week in Borderlands Mexico: Cargo theft falls, but attacks on truckers turn deadlier; Clarios opens $147M battery distribution center in Torreón; and Craters & Freighters Austin opens expanded logistics facility.
Cargo theft falls, but attacks on truckers turn deadlier
Cargo theft across Mexico continued to decline during the first five months of 2026, but trucking industry leaders say organized criminal groups are using increasingly violent tactics that have left at least 14 commercial drivers dead this year.
According to Mexico’s Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), authorities opened 2,099 cargo theft investigations between January and May, down 21% from 2,653 investigations during the same period in 2025, reported Mexico Business News.
The total marks one of the country’s lowest cargo theft levels in recent years and extends a downward trend that began after 2019.
Despite the improvement, executives with Mexico’s National Freight Chamber of Commerce (Canacar) say the statistics tell only part of the story.
“Security remains the biggest issue for the trucking industry,” Norberto Limón, Canacar’s delegate in Veracruz, told news outlet XEU. “Robberies have decreased by 17%, but violence has increased, and that’s what we cannot allow.”
Driver deaths raise alarm
Canacar said 14 truck drivers have been killed in highway attacks so far in 2026, highlighting what the organization describes as a shift toward more aggressive tactics by criminal groups. Robbers are increasingly using firearms and opening fire on truck drivers rather than waiting for vehicles to stop voluntarily, trucking experts said.
During a recent industry report marking the organization’s first 100 days under new leadership, Canacar President Augusto Ramos Melo said violence—not just theft totals—has become the sector’s primary concern.
Nearly 13,000 violent cargo robberies and fewer than 1,000 nonviolent robberies were recorded from January through May. While those figures represented a 16% decline from the previous year, Ramos said “the violence in robberies has been a trigger that, as a sector, we cannot allow to continue,” according to WRadio.
Canacar represents roughly 250,000 transportation companies and says the trucking sector moves about 80% of Mexico’s domestic and export freight.
Freight corridors remain dangerous
While cargo theft has declined nationally, several highway corridors continue to pose significant risks for truck drivers.
The State of Mexico remained the country’s largest cargo theft hotspot, recording 1,074 investigations during the first five months of 2026.
Authorities and industry groups have also identified the Mexico-Pachuca Highway, the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense and connecting roadways around Tecámac, Ecatepec and Tizayuca among Mexico’s highest-risk freight corridors.
Limón identified the stretch between Cumbres de Maltrata and Esperanza along the Veracruz-Puebla corridor as the country’s most dangerous highway segment.
About 70% of freight arriving at the Port of Veracruz moves toward central Mexico, forcing thousands of trucks to travel through the corridor where Canacar estimates more than half of cargo robberies occur. The group says drivers are most vulnerable when stopping for fuel, meals or rest breaks.
In Guanajuato, another major manufacturing and logistics hub, Canacar officials reported that cargo theft declined about 7% over the past year but said attacks have become significantly more violent.
Canacar regional Vice President Jaime García Almanza said more than 15 truck drivers have been killed during highway robberies in the state during the first half of 2026, with criminals increasingly using assault rifles and firing on operators immediately to stop vehicles, reported El Sol de León.
Government expands highway security efforts
Mexico’s federal government has announced additional highway security initiatives aimed at protecting freight corridors.
President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration plans to expand the National Guard’s authority over highway enforcement.
Canacar officials said they are working with the National Guard to expand security convoys, improve coordination between state commands and increase the number of secure truck parking areas along major freight routes.
Industry leaders say those measures are welcome but said that sustained enforcement and intelligence operations targeting organized criminal networks will be necessary before truck drivers feel safe on Mexico’s highways.
“An operator cannot be a statistic,” Limón said. “He is a father, a son, a husband—someone who has to return home. Until that happens, we still have a debt as a country.”
Clarios opens $147M battery distribution center in Torreón
Clarios, a global automotive battery manufacturer, has opened a $147 million automated distribution center in Torreón, Mexico, expanding its North American supply chain footprint and creating more than 1,250 jobs.
The 279,969-square-foot facility can store up to 300,000 batteries and process as many as 11 million units annually. Customers include LTH, AutoZone, EverStart and Interstate Batteries, with shipments serving much of Mexico and extending to the U.S. West Coast.
The investment expands Clarios’ Mexico network to five manufacturing plants, two distribution centers and two recycling facilities. Wisconsin-based Clarios has 18,000 employees and operates in more than 140 countries.
Craters & Freighters Austin opens expanded logistics facility in Buda
Craters & Freighters Austin has opened a new warehouse and production facility in Buda, Texas.
The facility expands the company’s capacity to provide custom crating, industrial packaging and specialty shipping services for manufacturers and technology companies across Central Texas.
Located 20 miles south of Austin, the facility features a 15,000-square-foot warehouse on a 4-acre site with 120,000 square feet of concrete yard space for staging oversized industrial shipments and handling complex logistics projects.
The facility is positioned to serve customers in Austin, San Antonio and throughout Central Texas, supporting industries including technology, oil and gas, aerospace, medical equipment and fine art.
Craters & Freighters provides custom crating, packaging, and specialty shipping solutions for high-value and difficult-to-ship assets.
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