Laredo's Saturday Pilot Adds 400 Trucks as US-Mexico Truck Trade Hits $75.4B

Saturday commercial truck traffic at Laredo's World Trade Bridge has risen by roughly 400 to 500 trucks since a CBP pilot extended weekend processing hours on Sept. 5 — and U.S. Customs and Border Protection expects to keep the program running for another 90 days.

The pilot stretches Saturday commercial operations by three hours, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mexico's National Customs Agency (ANAM) and trade stakeholders requested the expansion to improve import and export truck flows at the busiest commercial crossing on the southern border.

Armando Taboada Jr., assistant director of field operations for CBP's Laredo Field Office, said the gains on Saturday have come straight out of Sunday's volumes. Sunday crossings are averaging 300 to 400 trucks fewer.

"It appears that some importers/carriers are shifting some truck crossings from Sundays to Saturdays," Taboada told FreightWaves.

That shift matters. It tells you carriers and importers are exploiting the longer Saturday window, not adding freight to their weekends. Total weekend volume is holding roughly flat; only its distribution across the two days has changed.

What does the extension change for shippers?

The initial 90-day pilot ends in early December, but CBP wants another three months of data on commercial cargo processing before making a call.

"It will depend on the final pilot numbers and input from the City of Laredo, Trade Stakeholders, and CBP," Taboada said. "The pilot is expected to be extended another 90 days to get a proper gauge of commercial cargo truck processing results."

For carriers and forwarders, that means continued scheduling flexibility on weekends at the crossing — without, so far, paying for it in wait times. Taboada said CBP has not observed significant congestion or processing delays.

"For the most part, traffic is steady and no major wait times or processing delays are being experienced," he said.

He credited the bridge's upgraded commercial vehicle inspection infrastructure for absorbing the traffic. Through the City of Laredo's Donations Acceptance Program, the World Trade Bridge has grown from seven primary inspection lanes to 19 — 15 regular lanes plus four FAST/CTPAT lanes for trusted-trade partners. That capacity has improved processing on weekdays and weekends alike, though weekend volumes still trail weekdays substantially.

CBP has also released preliminary truck and rail crossing statistics covering Aug. 23 through Nov. 7 across the eight ports of entry run by its Laredo Field Office. The data spans the World Trade Bridge, Colombia-Solidarity Bridge, Eagle Pass, Brownsville, Pharr, Hidalgo and other South Texas crossings, plus rail activity at Laredo, Eagle Pass and Brownsville.

US-Mexico truck freight reaches $75.4 billion in September

The bilateral numbers behind the pilot are large and getting larger. Trucks carried $75.4 billion in goods between the U.S. and Mexico in September — about 78% of the $96.3 billion in total trade between the two countries, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Total U.S.-Mexico freight trade jumped 34.2% year over year.

Widen the lens to North America and trucks moved $109.7 billion across both borders in September, up 27.6%. Combined transborder freight totaled $161.1 billion, a 23.4% increase. U.S.-Canada freight came in at $64.8 billion, up 10.1%.

Other modes on the Mexico lane trailed far behind trucking:

• Rail: $8.3 billion
• Vessel: $6.5 billion
• Air cargo: $2.8 billion
• Pipeline: $900 million

Laredo remained the leading U.S. truck freight gateway, posting $38.1 billion in cross-border freight across all modes in September. El Paso, Texas, and Otay Mesa, California, also ranked among the top truck crossings for U.S.-Mexico trade.

Teleflex opens $5 million plant in Chihuahua

Medical technology manufacturer Teleflex, headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, has inaugurated a $5 million machining facility in Chihuahua. The 8,073-square-foot plant will produce high-precision tooling and components for medical device manufacturing, according to Mexico Industry.

The company already runs four production plants in Chihuahua employing about 2,000 workers. The new workshop deepens that footprint. Teleflex makes technologies for vascular access, interventional cardiology, anesthesia, surgery, urology and emergency medicine, serves U.S. hospitals, operates in 36 countries and sells into more than 150 markets.

With the pilot's first readout due in December and a second 90-day window likely, expect a decision on permanent Saturday hours — and the scheduling calculus for thousands of cross-border carriers — sometime in early 2026.