The Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad (CPKC) has been working with shipping lines and shippers to run test loads of US import containers unloaded at Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico across the US border into Houston.

The merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern has created a railroad with connections between Mexico, the US and Canada. It has not been easy, however, to persuade US importers to bring containers into the US through Mexico.

The threat of a port strike on the US East Coast has lines and shippers looking for alternatives.

John Brooks, EVP and CMO at CPKC, said the railroad had just run “a number” of test loads carrying import containers from Lazaro Cardenas across the border to Houston. Brooks said it has been “a slog” to educate the market “about what import-export trade can look like through Mexico”, but the test loads had produced “a really good customer experience”.

Excluding port time in Lazaro Cardenas, rail time into Mexico was 3.5 days. “It’s been a pretty big learning curve with the customers, but we’re starting to produce some results,” Brooks added.

He noted Maersk Line, MSC, CMA CGM and ONE have all recently announced new services and service upgrades to Lazaro. This creates more options for US-bound cargo.

CPKC does not yet have what Brooks considers to be a “regular cross-border import-export business” through Lazaro, but he is highly optimistic business will reach this level soon.

The Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad (CPKC) has been working with shipping lines and shippers to run test loads of US import containers unloaded at Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico across the US border into Houston.

The merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern has created a railroad with connections between Mexico, the US and Canada. It has not been easy, however, to persuade US importers to bring containers into the US through Mexico.

The threat of a port strike on the US East Coast has lines and shippers looking for alternatives.

John Brooks, EVP and CMO at CPKC, said the railroad had just run “a number” of test loads carrying import containers from Lazaro Cardenas across the border to Houston. Brooks said it has been “a slog” to educate the market “about what import-export trade can look like through Mexico”, but the test loads had produced “a really good customer experience”.

Excluding port time in Lazaro Cardenas, rail time into Mexico was 3.5 days. “It’s been a pretty big learning curve with the customers, but we’re starting to produce some results,” Brooks added.

He noted Maersk Line, MSC, CMA CGM and ONE have all recently announced new services and service upgrades to Lazaro. This creates more options for US-bound cargo.

CPKC does not yet have what Brooks considers to be a “regular cross-border import-export business” through Lazaro, but he is highly optimistic business will reach this level soon.