The Mexico Playbook.

1. CH 01 The most expensive 800 feet in North American trucking Why the cross-dock at the border is where margin goes to die — and the structural reasons it isn't getting fixed by anyone shipping a portal. 12 Apr 2026
2. CH 02 Why Mexico's carrier market doesn't show up on any database 200,000 trucking companies. 95% have fewer than 30 trucks. A short tour of the long tail and what it means for sourcing capacity. 04 Oct 2025
3. CH 03 Carta Porte, in plain English What it is, what it isn't, why your Mexican carrier already hates filing it, and the one thing US brokers consistently get wrong about the data. 19 Sep 2025

1. CH 04 Carriers don't want a portal. They want fewer phone calls. Notes from 200 conversations with Mexican carriers about what "carrier experience" actually means south of the Rio Grande. 28 Mar 2026
2. CH 05 Picking the best Mexico partner If you're a US broker entering Mexico, the partner you pick is the product. A short, opinionated field guide. 19 Jun 2025
3. CH 06 Border crossing 101: Laredo, Otay, El Paso The three corridors that matter, what's different about each, and which kind of freight should never go through which crossing. 14 May 2025
4. CH 07 Drayage, transload, through-trailer — choose your fighter A decision tree for which border-crossing model fits your lane, your service expectation, and your customs posture. 02 Apr 2025

1. CH 08 Theft, hijacking, and how to think about cargo risk in Mexico A sober take. What the real numbers look like by lane, the insurance market reality, and the operational levers that actually move risk. 11 Mar 2025
2. CH 09 Tariffs, T-MEC, and the volatility tax How the trade-policy regime since 2018 reshaped capacity flows. What's structural, what's noise, and what to actually plan around. 22 Jan 2025
3. CH 10 Pricing cross-border — why your spreadsheet is wrong The five hidden costs almost nobody bakes into a Mexico quote until they lose money on the third load. 08 Dec 2024

1. CH 11 Why nobody's built a real Mexico load board (yet) The market structure problems that have killed every attempt. Why we're still trying anyway. 17 Nov 2024
2. CH 12 AI agents that don't try too hard, applied to cross-border The agents that actually shipped value at Cargado in Q1 were the boring ones. Mostly Spanish-language carrier comms, status calls, and document parsing. 14 Mar 2026

The playbook is a living document. Send corrections, war stories, or "you're wrong about Laredo" via the contact form. — editorial note