According to www.freightwaves.com, U.S. authorities have revoked B-1 visas for approximately 25,000 Mexican truck drivers — a move that has sharply reduced cross-border freight capacity and driven tender rejections and spot rates upward across key U.S.-Mexico lanes.
Border Tender Rejection Rates Surge
The capacity crunch is most acute at El Paso, where tender rejections peaked at roughly 24–25% in early July and remain near 20%, according to FreightWaves SONAR data. San Diego/Otay Mesa follows with rejections at about 10%, up from 3.9% a year ago. Laredo’s rejection rate stood at 6.07% on Oct. 3 before rebounding to 7.78% by Oct. 10. Nationally, the tender rejection rate rose from 5.7% to 13.8% over the same period.
Driver Shortage Drives Rate Spikes
Julie Van de Kamp, who presented the SONAR analysis on Oct. 13, emphasized that supply constraints—not demand surges—are driving the crisis:
“What is driving this is Mexico — there is not so much increased demand, but there’s certainly, whether short-term or whether it will be longer-term, we’re seeing a lot of reports of driver shortages.” — Julie Van de Kamp
She noted that the shortage stems directly from visa revocations and lack of driver availability.
Spot Rates Soar on Key Corridors
Spot rates reflect the tightening conditions: San Diego-to-Phoenix rates are up 57% year over year; Laredo-to-Dallas is up 43%; Laredo-to-Chicago is up 35%; and El Paso-to-Dallas is up 28%. Meanwhile, the Mexico Contract Volume Index shows volume is stable — having recovered from a January drop but not surging — confirming that rate pressure originates from constrained driver supply, not demand growth.
Canadian Border Faces Imbalance, Not Shortage
At the U.S.-Canada border, the dynamic differs: a freight imbalance rather than a driver shortage. Canadian exports remain firm, but weak northbound return loads push carriers to avoid certain U.S. markets or demand premium pay. Rates on select Canada corridors are up 20% to 35% over the past six weeks. The Canadian tender rejection rate has climbed from roughly 4% to about 5.5% year over year and is expected to rise further through year-end.
Source: FreightWaves
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
