Mexico truck driver strike delayed after officials, carriers reach deal

The threat of a nationwide strike and protests by cargo truck drivers in Mexico has been postponed after federal authorities showed a willingness to listen to the truckers’ demands, according to officials from the Mexican Alliance of Carrier Organizations (AMOTAC).

AMOTAC had scheduled demonstrations across the country for Tuesday and Wednesday, aiming to spotlight issues affecting truck drivers: cargo theft and violence, higher operating costs, complicated vehicle registration, excessive toll fees, extortion by authorities and more.

“We decided to postpone our protest for three months, because we saw the good will of the federal government to attend to our needs,” Rafael Ortiz, AMOTAC’s president, said in a news release. “We will use this time with the intention of evaluating the National Guard’s work on the roads of our country.”

One of the major agreements includes the country’s National Guard meeting monthly with AMOTAC officials to create enhanced safety measures on the country’s roadways to combat cargo theft. The National Guard oversees protection of Mexico’s highways.

Other concessions made by authorities with AMOTAC include the free use of emergency ramps on the federal highway network, the government refraining from fining cargo trucks based on their model year and validating nationally distributed digital licenses for cargo trucks in every state and municipality.

AMOTAC, which said the strike could have included up to 300,000 drivers across the country, had planned to blockade main highways during the two-day strike, potentially disrupting both domestic and international freight shipments.

Matt Silver, vice president of cross-border solutions at Arrive Logistics, said he received calls over the weekend from shippers asking for advice on how to deal with the potential strike.

“What we were seeing primarily is contingency plans for routing in Mexico — making sure that you don’t run into any blockades along the way to the border,” Silver told FreightWaves. “Most carriers will plan ahead to make sure they stay on safe highways or tollways to avoid running into any dangerous cartel issues.”

Silver said based on his contacts with Mexico’s National Chamber of Freight Transport (CANACAR), it’s unclear how many drivers would have actually participated in the strike.

“From everything we’ve heard across our points of contact in Mexico, most of our carriers are part of CANACAR and not AMOTAC; those carriers and drivers don’t plan on striking,” Silver said. “With how much the freight market in Mexico is expanding, and how fluid rates are, I find it hard to believe most carriers and drivers want this market to slow down further.”

However, Ortiz warned that if meetings with the National Guard and other authorities don’t produce satisfactory results over the next three months, AMOTAC could again call for a national strike.

“These are very important agreements that speak to us of the good will to delay the strike a little,” Ortiz said. “It is definitively not canceled; it is postponed for three months.”