The cross-border freight market between the United States and Mexico is entering a new chapter, and Werner is positioning itself at the center of it. The Omaha-based carrier is scaling an asset-based intermodal service into Mexico, deploying Werner-owned containers and leveraging nearly three decades of cross-border operational expertise to meet what its leadership sees as a structural shift in North American supply chains.
In a recent interview, FreightWaves’ Thomas Wasson sat down with Werner’s Nate Browne, SVP of Intermodal, and Lance Dixon, SVP of Mexico, Canada and Temperature Controlled Operations. They outlined the carrier’s strategy for expanding intermodal service into Mexico, the role nearshoring is playing in reshaping cross-border demand, and why the timing is right for shippers to rethink how freight moves between the two countries.
Werner’s Cross-Border Expertise in Mexico
Werner’s cross-border operations aren’t new. The company launched its Mexico service in 1999, and Dixon, who has been with Werner for 34 years, was one of the people who built it from the ground up.
“We’re no longer testing things or trying things,” Dixon said. “We know what we’re doing. The team is very tenured.”
That institutional knowledge spans 12 border crossing ports, more than 100 associates in Mexico, and a customer base that reads like a who’s who of global manufacturing and consumer brands. Werner’s Mexico operations support dry van, temperature-controlled, logistics and intermodal services.
The intermodal piece, Dixon explained, is a natural extension that rounds out Werner’s portfolio of services for customers in Mexico.
A Closer Look at Cross-Border Intermodal
The mechanics of cross-border intermodal aren’t dramatically different from domestic operations, but border crossings add layers of complexity that require deep expertise. Browne explained that Werner’s intermodal service can function like a traditional over-the-road crossing, e.g, running a train from Chicago to Laredo and then clearing customs at the border. But the real advantage, he said, comes from a different approach.
“Where we’ve seen advantages for intermodal versus over the road is the Mexico Direct solution,” Browne said. “That means clearing customs at origin, whether you’re going north or south, and bypassing some of the border congestion that can delay processes at the border.”
Werner’s C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) protocols underpin the entire operation. With teams on both sides of the border working in close coordination, the carrier has built a system designed to catch problems before they become disruptions.
“As long as those [procedures] get followed, rarely do we ever see an issue that we can’t solve before it becomes a problem,” Dixon said.
Protecting Your Cargo
Security is a persistent concern in cross-border freight, and Werner is investing in both technology and people to address it. Browne described a multilayered approach that goes beyond basic GPS tracking on assets.
“We use cargo cameras as well,” Browne said. “It’s an extra layer of theft deterrent and gives us a good line of sight into when equipment is being loaded or unloaded.”
Technology alone isn’t the differentiator, according to Browne. Having Werner associates physically present at border crossings and inside Mexico grants the kind of institutional knowledge and responsiveness that remote operations can’t replicate.
Scaling Capacity to Meet Demand
The scale of Werner’s intermodal investment is tangible. Dixon said the company currently operates around 400 Werner-owned containers, with plans to double that fleet to approximately 800 by the end of the year.
“This becomes just another way for our customers to rely on Werner to serve them in a slightly different way,” Dixon said.
Shippers Shift to Mode-Agnostic Thinking
There’s a meaningful shift in how Mexican shippers view intermodal. A decade ago, according to Dixon, the conversations simply weren’t happening, but in the last few years, that’s completely changed.
Large multinational shippers are becoming increasingly mode-agnostic. They want capacity and on-time delivery, and they’re less concerned about whether the freight moves on a truck or a train.
“[Shippers] don’t really care how their product moves, just that it moves safely and it meets on-time delivery at the other end,” Dixon said. “We can do that in just about every single case.”
Breaking Down the Barriers to Entry
One of the barriers to intermodal adoption has always been the perceived complexity of switching from over-the-road.
“Often, the customers that we look at are shipping that same product over the road,” Browne said. “We bring a consultative approach to make sure our customers are clearing with their customs brokers. If you’re going to clear at origin, oftentimes you can deal with the same broker,” he said.
The goal is to make the transition seamless rather than requiring shippers to overhaul their customs processes before they can even get started.
Closing the Gap with Truckload
Browne characterized the Mexican intermodal market as being several years behind the U.S. in terms of adoption, but said the fundamental value proposition is converging. The traditional objections (cost, transit time, service reliability) are falling away.
“Cost really isn’t a huge obstacle,” Browne said. “The railroads have worked very hard with us to make that not a limiting factor in a lot of lanes. Transit is what I would say has changed the most. When you think about going from central Mexico to Chicago, it’s truck-like transit today, whereas 10 years ago, that was not the case.”
He credited significant railroad infrastructure investment for improving service levels across the board, calling current conditions the best he has seen in his career.
“The railroad service is right now the best it’s been in my 14 years of intermodal,” Browne said. “Let alone sustainability. When it comes up in a board meeting or when it comes up in a discussion for a customer thinking about making a change, that’s just another feather in the cap.”
Sustainability Moves to the Forefront
The sustainability angle carries real weight in conversations with large enterprise shippers. Werner’s scale on the truckload side, where the company is testing battery-powered and hydrogen-powered tractors, pairs with intermodal’s inherent emissions advantages to create a compelling story for customers with aggressive sustainability targets.
“We often talk to customers about what a potential carbon emission looks like on a central Mexico to Chicago over-the-road lane and then compare it to that same volume moving intermodal,” Browne said. “We can show shippers the facts that they can take to their board of directors or their supply chain team to make decisions. It’s pretty powerful.”
It’s a topic, he noted, that has gone from an afterthought to a front-and-center discussion in customer conversations over the past decade.
The Long Tail of Nearshoring
The wave of foreign direct investment flowing into Mexico is the clearest signal that cross-border freight volumes are only headed in one direction, according to Dixon. The nearshoring trend, he argued, has a long tail, but the capital is already committed.
“If you look at foreign direct investment in Mexico over the last two or three years, it’s set a record every year,” Dixon said. “By the time a customer decides to build a second plant or third plant in Mexico, they have to secure a site, and they have to pull in some infrastructure — think water, sewer, data lines, electricity, etc. Then they have to prop a building up… they’ve got to get machinery in it, then they’ve got to train their folks. All that takes a couple of years, best-case scenario.”
The manufacturing capacity being built in Mexico today will generate freight demand for years to come, and truckload capacity alone won’t be able to absorb it.
Why Intermodal Becomes Essential
“Truckload capacity can be constrained already today. With border delays, that’s going to get worse,” Dixon said.
Werner’s intermodal expansion into Mexico is a calculated response to structural forces reshaping North American supply chains. With record foreign direct investment fueling new manufacturing in Mexico, border congestion intensifying, and large shippers demanding flexible capacity solutions, the carrier is leveraging 27 years of cross-border expertise and a growing fleet of owned containers to meet the moment. The freight is coming, but thankfully, the intermodal infrastructure to move it is already in place.
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