Xpress expands in Mexico

   Chattanooga, Tenn.-based trucking company U.S. Xpress Enterprises will significantly expand its U.S./Mexican cross-border services via two deals.
   First, U.S. Xpress will purchase a 90-percent interest in Xpress Internacional. With a terminal network in major cities throughout Mexico, Xpress Internacional allows U.S. Xpress to provide a “true door-to-door service between the two countries,” Xpress said.
   The deal marks an expansion of the joint venture originally created by the two companies in 2007.
   The company has also formed a joint venture with Monterrey-based Logisti-K, a provider of cross-border and Mexican logistics services. The deal will allow U.S. Xpress to expand its range of services in Mexico to include warehousing and distribution (including cross-dock, door-to-door and end-to-end solutions), inventory management, order fulfillment, freight management – both domestic and international – as well as freight forwarding services via full truckload, less-than-truckload, intermodal, ocean and air.
   Xpress said its Mexico services expansion comes as a result of growing customer interest in Asia, Europe, North and South America for shipping to and from Mexico.
   “As global trade increases with Mexico, we see the demand for providing customers with solutions for supply chain management from the point of creation to the final end-point distribution,” said Brian Quinn, vice president and general manager of international services at U.S. Xpress.
   The company’s Mexican expansion follows its recently announced cross-border partnership with Canadian carrier Maritime-Ontario.