The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) integrated Hector Lopez Santillana, Director of Guanajuato Inland Port, into the update of its Border
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) integrated Hector Lopez Santillana, Director of Guanajuato Inland Port, into the update of its Border Transportation Master Plan (BTMP)
The United States is calling Guanajuato as a key piece for the connectivity and logistics flow of the USMCA
San Pedro Garza Garcia/Gto News
In a strategic move driven by the rise of nearshoring and new trade rules under the USMCA, the Texas government, through its Department of Transportation (TxDOT), formally invited Guanajuato to participate in the Texas-Mexico Border Transportation Master Plan (BTMP) Update.
The presence of the state of Guanajuato was strengthened through the invitation extended to Hector Lopez Santillana, General Director of Guanajuato Inland Port (GPI), based on his experience and the importance of The Bajio industrial logistics platform as a key hub for foreign trade. The high-level meeting took place in San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon.
The BTMP coordinates the movement of a 1,254-mile border and 34 international crossings, a binational network that processed a record $533 billion in trade during 2024. Given this scenario, TxDOT determined it essential to incorporate Guanajuato’s vision, given that it has the most dynamic dry port in Mexico, integrating it alongside the traditional border states (Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Chihuahua).
The active participation of Guanajuato in this North American plan generates direct competitive advantages for the local economy and industry:
- Guarantee of free flow: By participating in the route planning, it is ensured that exports from companies located in Guanajuato have priority access and are free of bottlenecks at international bridges
- Nearshoring investment attraction: It consolidates Guanajuato as the most prepared inland destination to receive foreign investment, by offering logistical certainty and a direct and planned connection with the Texas market
- Reduction of operation costs: The design of a continuous “logistics architecture” decreases transit times and optimizes intermodal transport costs for producers in the region
Before industry leaders and senior TxDOT officials; such as Caroline Mays, Undersecretary of Planning, and Andrew A. Canon, Director of Freight and International Trade; Lopez Santillana shared his vision, emphasizing that the current challenges of global supply chains demand a shift away from isolated efforts.
In front of a study area that annually processes more than 5.3 million commercial vehicles and one million railway cars heading north, Lopez Santillana presented the Guanajuato Inland Port model as a benchmark of success.
GPI, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year, presented itself as a unique public-private partnership that has operated entirely self-sufficiently and sustainably for the past twelve years, without requiring public funds. Home to 140 international companies, 90 percent of which operate directly in international trade, the complex represents the ideal inland engine to boost activity at the border.
According to TxDOT’s official timeline, the Guanajuato intervention occurs at a critical moment: the “Projects, Strategies and Policies” phase .
Guanajuato reaffirmed its commitment to participate in the design of pilot solutions and customs technology tests that ensure binational competitiveness and security, protecting the economic flow of both nations.
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