The National Guard will soon collaborate with Mexican companies that track stolen vehicles in order to increase the recovery of cargo transport vehicles stolen by criminals in highway theft.
The Guard, in conjunction with the National Association of Vehicle Tracking and Protection Companies (Anervp), will focus on Mexico’s five worst states for cargo vehicle theft, where many of the robberies happen as hijackings on Mexico’s highways, according to the association’s new head, Luis Villatoro Martínez.
In an interview with the publication Forbes México, Villatoro said that México state, Puebla, Michoacán, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí report the highest rates of theft of cargo- transport vehicles, with 70% of incidents happening in those states.
“We will have more feedback from the National Guard, the Federal Public Security Ministry and authorities in [these] five states,” Villatoro said.
So far this year, Anervp has recovered over 838 million pesos (US $41.6 million) worth of cargo transport vehicles, including 1,225 tractor-trailers, trailers, dry vans, cars, pickup trucks and motorcycles. This resulted in the arrest of 180 alleged criminals and the confiscation of 29 properties allegedly linked to organized crime activities.
Better security on Mexico’s highways needed to attract nearshoring
Over the last few years, the most pressing security concern for foreign companies operating in Mexico has been violent cargo truck hijackings on major highways. According to some estimates by business chambers in the country, an average of 50cargo trucks are hijacked each day in Mexico.
The Reliance Partners’ Cargo Truck Hijacking Data Portal, which compiles official data published by Mexico’s federal government, reported that 2023 saw 7,862 hijackings, up 3% from 2022. Wal-Mart, Ford, Danone, Chevrolet, Apple, Amazon and other foreign companies have all experienced cargo truck hijacking incidents in Mexico, according to the portal.
Cargo theft on Mexico’s highways not only implies economic losses for companies but also, said vice president of the Mexican Institute of Foreign Trade Executives (Imece) Luis Masse Torres, a challenge that could hinder the burgeoning nearshoring trend in Mexico.
“The first thing these [foreign] companies will notice when they do their risk analysis is that Mexico poses significant dangers regarding highway insecurity,” Messe told newspaper El Economista. “Faced with the very high possibility of losing merchandise or having accidents, surely these companies will think twice or three times before establishing themselves in Mexico.”
What are the top 10 states in Mexico for highway cargo thefts?
According to the National Public Security System (Sesnsp), 10 states accounted for more than 90% of highway thefts in Mexico last year:
- México state
- Puebla
- Michoacán
- San Luis Potosí
- Morelos
- Jalisco
- Tlaxcala
- Nuevo León
- Veracruz
- Oaxaca.
According to the Mexican Alliance of Transport Organizations, the three highways targeted most by criminals in Mexico are the Mexico-Puebla, México-Querétaro and Veracruz-Mexico highways.
With reports from Forbes, El Economista and El Universal
