Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
In November 1942, sensing the tide of World War II was beginning to turn in favor of the Allies, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill uttered the famous phrase, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
The same could apply—on a less-grandiose scale—to the latest development in the U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking dispute. After a two-year fight that has resulted in millions in lost revenues, missed market opportunities, and increasing acrimony between the two nations, the ice may have finally begun to thaw.
The melting process began last Thursday, when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood unveiled to Congress what was termed a "concept document" that would eventually allow qualified Mexican truckers to operate in U.S. commerce beyond a 25-mile commercial zone along the southern border. (The document can be read here.)
The Department of Transportation (DOT) document was framed as nothing more than a "starting point" for negotiations with Mexico aimed at developing a cross-border access program all stakeholders could live with. If and when an agreement is reached, DOT will make the details public and give interested parties 30 days to file comments. Congress must pass legislation as well, and the deal is unlikely to go down without a fight both at DOT and on Capitol Hill.
The document's release comes nearly two years after President Barack Obama signed an omnibus spending bill that ended funding for a 2007 pilot program that gave Mexican truckers and drivers limited access to U.S. markets. Supporters of the action, namely the Teamsters union and independent truck drivers, hailed the action as an important step in keeping unsafe and unqualified Mexican truckers off U.S. highways. Critics argued that the administration's decision violated a provision in the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement that required the United States to grant Mexican truckers full access to its highways by January 2000.
A furious Mexican government retaliated by slapping tariffs on 89 U.S. import products worth more than $2 billion a year. Mexico imposed the tariffs using a rotating "carousel" mechanism that lets it remove some products from the list while adding others.
In response to the release of the DOT document, Mexico said it would stop the "carousel" and refrain from adding any more products to the list. However, the government said it would not lift the tariffs until it sees more progress toward resolving the dispute.
The DOT document is patterned loosely after the 2007 pilot program. However, there are three major additions: All vehicles must be equipped with electronic on-board recording devices to monitor compliance with applicable driver hours-of-service regulations. In addition, U.S. regulators will review each driver's performance history in both countries before deeming him or her fit to operate under U.S. standards. Finally, U.S. officials will review safety records maintained by the Mexican government on each company as well as any U.S. operating history the company may have.
DOT said the changes reflect input from multiple stakeholders, including the Mexican government.
Reaction to the document was swift, and the tone generally predictable. Teamster President James P. Hoffa said he was "deeply disappointed" in the proposal, warning it would endanger the U.S. traveling public and expose the U.S. southern border to increased drug trafficking from Mexican cartels.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) said the proposal would put U.S. citizens at risk on the roads and jeopardize U.S. driver jobs at a time of elevated unemployment.
"Mexico has been bullying our government into allowing their trucking companies to have full access to highways across the U.S. while refusing to raise regulatory standards in its own trucking industry," said Todd Spencer, OOIDA's executive vice president. "Mexico's regulatory standards aren't even remotely equivalent to what we have in the U.S."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce applauded the move. "It's time that we complied with the promise we made to allow carefully inspected trucks to move across the border," said Thomas J. Donohue, the chamber's president and CEO and former head of the American Trucking Associations.
For the cluster of producers affected by the Mexican tariffs, the dispute can't end soon enough. The U.S. Apple Association, whose products were added to the tariff list last August, said it was pleased by the turn of events. Like many U.S. commodity producers, the apple industry counts Mexico as its largest export market. Last year, Mexico imported 11.5 million boxes—or bushels—of fresh U.S. apples, worth $207 million. That accounted for more than one-quarter of total U.S. apple exports by value.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.