Borderlands Mexico: Tropical Storm Alberto disrupting freight across Texas, Mexico

Related: Tropical storm warning issued as Texas braces for flash flooding

Mike Burkhart, vice president for Mexico at brokerage giant C.H. Robinson, said Monterrey is one of Mexico’s primary automotive manufacturing hubs.

“Monterrey is experiencing widespread flooding and power outages. Both automakers and auto-parts makers are clustered in Monterrey,” Burkhart told FreightWaves in an email. “A toll road leading into Monterrey has been closed because of mudslides, leaving intense traffic on the only other main commercial route that comes into Monterrey and continues north to the U.S. The carriers we work with in Mexico are hauling as much as they can, but with caution. We’re already seeing less freight coming through our three cross-dock facilities in Laredo today.”

Burkhart said cross-border rail shipments have largely continued as normal.

“Mexico and cross-border rail service has been mostly unaffected so far, except for one of the railroads temporarily closing their ramp in Monterrey,” he said. “The main impact we’re expecting today is rain and wind slowing down the loading and unloading of containers and the movement of containers around the yards.”

Heavy rains and rising waters prompted the temporary closure of the ports of Altamira and Tampico along Mexico’s Gulf Coast. Altamira and Tampico reopened Thursday afternoon with extended hours to work through a backlog of ships waiting to be processed.

Tropical Storm Alberto also drenched Corpus Christi, Texas, with a storm surge and heavy rains Wednesday. The National Weather Service reported up to 3 feet of storm surge from South Padre Island to Corpus Christi during the storm.

Due to the severe weather, the Corpus Christi Ship Channel was closed for marine traffic on Wednesday. It’s unclear if the channel was reopened on Thursday. Officials for the Port of Corpus Christi did not immediately respond to a request for comment from FreightWaves.