Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: Volkswagen invests $233 million in a new engine line in Mexico; Texas’ roads are the most dangerous; a supply chain provider expands in Dallas; and a new logistics facility is announced in Laredo, Texas.
Volkswagen announces new engine production line in Mexico
Volkswagen AG (OTCMKTS: VWAGY) plans to invest $233.5 million in a new engine production line at an existing plant in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.
“With today’s investment announcement, we reaffirm our commitment to continue growing in Guanajuato and to continue trusting Mexico as a safe place to invest,” Steffen Reiche, president of Volkswagen’s Mexico unit, said Thursday in release.
Volkswagen’s new EA211 engine will be manufactured at the company’s plant in Silao, a city in the west-central part of Guanajuato state.
Volkswagen officials said the new EA211 engines will also increase capacity at the Silao plant by 75% and could add as many as 1,000 new jobs.
The EA211 engine will motor the automaker’s new Taos SUV model, which is assembled at the company’s vehicle plant in nearby Puebla.
The company also assembles its Jetta, Tiguan and Golf models at the Puebla plant.
According to Volkswagen’s website, its plant in Puebla is the largest automobile production facility in Mexico. Last year, 443,435 cars were made there.
Around 330,000 engines were produced at Volkswagen’s plant in Silao, which also supplies motors to a Volkswagen vehicle plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Silao plant supplies engines to an Audi plant in San Jose Chiapa, Mexico, as well.
Volkswagen’s two plants are around 80 miles southeast of Mexico City and employ more than 13,000 people.
Texas roads the most dangerous, according to study
A recent study shows that Texas is the most dangerous state to drive in, with more than 3,000 fatal crashes in 2018.
The research was conducted by Los Angeles-based Uplift Legal Funding, which pulled statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an independent, nonprofit scientific and educational organization.
The results showed that Texas had 3,642 deaths resulting from vehicle accidents during 2018.
“Aside from the well known 85 mph speed limit, Texas is home to the treacherous Interstate-45 in Houston. Not only is it the most dangerous road in Texas but is the second most dangerous road in the U.S. Harris County, Texas, saw the most fatalities along the interstate, with 115 deaths in a one year period,” according to the research.
California came in second place with 3,259 deaths from fatal crashes in 2018, followed by Florida with 2,915.
Rhode Island was the state with the fewest fatal car accidents in 2018, recording 56.
Supply chain provider expands with new logistics facility in Dallas
Third-party logistics provider Hayes Co. recently announced it will open a new distribution facility in Dallas.
Wichita, Kansas-based Hayes Co. is planning to open the 584,089-square-foot shipping center in the Exeter Buckner Business Park in East Dallas.
The center is scheduled to open early next year, according to filings with the state of Texas.
Company officials said the new facility will help consolidate its operations in Texas, but they did not provide further details. The company already operates five warehouses in north Texas.
Hayes Co., founded in 1979, is a logistics and supply chain management company.
New logistics facility announced in Laredo
A new 300,000-square-foot logistics center is under construction in Laredo, Texas.
The Tailwind II Logistics Center will feature a cross-dock industrial facility with 5,775 square feet of ground floor office space, 112 dock-high doors and two ramped doors for trucks. The property will also provide 140 parking spaces, 199 trailer parking spaces, and fenced and secured truck courts.
The new logistics center will be located in Pinnacle Industrial Park, 5 miles north of Laredo’s World Trade Bridge at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The project, a partnership between Fort Worth, Texas-based Tailwind Real Estate Equities and Dallas-based Gulf Corp., broke ground in September and is set to be completed in the fall.
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