Landstar opens up new U.S.-Mexico cross-border facility

Jacksonvillle, Fla-based Landstar System, a global, asset-light transportation services provider, recently announced it has opened up its new Landstar U.S./Mexico Logistics Service Center in Laredo, Texas. 

Landstar’s presence as a provider of Mexican cross-border services goes back to 1999. Landstar Transportation Logistics Executive Vice President of Operations Eric Meyer told LM that Landstar outgrew its existing facility due to increasing demand in business and the need to offer expanded services, especially in LTL (less-than-truckload) consolidation of shipments crossing the border into Mexico. Meyer declined to provide a number for how many customers Landstar serves out of this new location.

Landstar provides multiple services into and out of Mexico, including truckload, rail, LTL, transload, and customs brokerage.

The new Landstar U.S./Mexico Logistics Service Center is 31,000 square-feet and on a 50-acre site that accommodates 450 trailers and also provides room for future expansion and is one of the largest facilities of its kind in Laredo, according to Landstar. And the company added that the center also is comprised of a highly secured C-TPAT (Customs–Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) certified site, which includes a 30-bay cross dock and transload facility and a dedicated platform and Heavy/Specialized freight area with a custom 120-ton standalone bridge crane, which has a clearance area of 35 feet high and 37 feet wide, which Landstar said accommodates the ability to transload many of the largest super loads.

The 30-bay cross dock and transload facility is more than 20,000 square-feet and designed to bring efficiencies to Landstar’s LTL and transload services, while complementing its LTL business by allowing multiple LTL shipments to be consolidated into one truckload prior to crossing the Mexican border. And this facility can house more than 450 trailers, which Landstar said is 2.5 times more than the capacity of its former facility.

Landstar’s Meyer cited many benefits of this new service center for shippers such as the benefits of increased capacity, as well as the aforementioned service offerings, including LTL consolidation, customs brokerage, and the added ability of the bridge crane to transfer heavy, specialized loads between various types of platform equipment as it comes to and from Mexico.

Also included in the new Landstar U.S./Mexico Logistics Service Center are conference rooms and meeting space for Landstar agents and customers, and a state-of-the-art area for Landstar BCOs (business cargo owners), its term for truck owner-operators leased to Landstar, which features a lounge, media center, computer room, and laundry among other features.

“Landstar is known for its high level of service and extensive geographic coverage, servicing the Mexico market using more than 1,000 van and platform trailers to accommodate the broad range of commodities that comprise cross-border trade,” said Meyer in a statement. “The facility will better serve Landstar’s customers, capacity providers and agents, and we believe it will position Landstar as the premier freight transport provider of cross-border operations.”