Laredo Point of Entry

February 9, 2022

Shining a Light on a Powerhouse of North American Trade

The Rio South Texas region’s wealth of assets offers much to explore, and COSTEP is here to help you navigate and shed light on them. We recently covered the history & importance of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo River, so let us continue this journey by visiting the region’s international bridge system spanning that river, and highlighting their position at the heart of the North American supply chain. This week, we are shining a light on the international bridges of the Laredo Point of Entry (POE), the United States’ #1 commercial truck crossing.

While not as well known as major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Detroit, the City of Laredo, Texas relevance to the economies of North America has been decades in the making, and its current leadership is undisputed. Looking at Border Crossing Entry Data for 2021, the Laredo, Texas POE facilitated almost 2.6 Million commercial truck border crossings, while the truck count at the #2 commercial truck crossing in the United States, the Detroit, Michigan POE, stood at approximately 1.4 Million. The combination of 4 vehicle bridges, amplified by a commercial rail bridge, and its strategic location on both Interstate 35 and Interstate 69, make the international bridge system of Laredo, Texas, a driving force in international trade and manufacturing.

And the importance of the Laredo, Texas POE, as well as that of the Rio South Texas region as a whole, only continues to grow. As, over the past two years, the pandemic significantly disrupted supply chains around the globe, Laredo’s strong foundations and people weathered the storm and came back stronger. In 2019, 2,364,681 trucks crossed through the Laredo, Texas POE, but these numbers dipped only by -1.89% (2,319,901 trucks) in 2020, and rebounded strong in 2021 with a total of 2,586,471 truck crossings. That is an 8.62% increase over the pre-pandemic 2019 statistic! For comparison, the 2021 number of the Detroit, Michigan POE was -9.26% below the 2019 figure. These statistics are a true testament how the Rio South Texas region as a whole, and the Laredo, Texas POE in particular, serves as the heart of the North American supply chain.

Add to that the multi-modal nature of Rio South Texas’ logistics network offering, land, sea, air, and, coming soon, space solutions, and it is easy to see how our region’s commercial trade will continue to grow for years to come. To learn more, visit our website www.costep.org, to learn more about the various assets and opportunities the Rio South Texas region has to offer.