The Bridge · Data story · Port Laredo
Same Trailer, Richer Cargo
In August 2026, Port Laredo moved $149K of trade for every truck that crossed northbound. The trade counts every mode, rail included, so read the climb, not the level. Bold line: the 12-month average.
Value pulled away from trucks
From 2018 to 2025, Laredo's trade value rose 51% while truck crossings rose 27%. Truck counts peaked in the 12 months to October 2024 and have eased since, while the value kept climbing: $101K of trade per truck in 2018, $120K in 2025.
Both lines are 12-month totals indexed so that calendar 2018 equals 100; through August 2026, trade reads 168 and trucks 128. The shaded gap is the richer cargo.
Two rail bridges, one moment
In the 12 months to April 2026, Eagle Pass ran 3,784 trains into the United States and Laredo 3,769: the two lines touched for the first time in the series. In the 12 months to August 2026, the latest complete window, Laredo leads, 3,774 trains to 3,448.
Railroads rebalance their networks one contract cycle at a time. CPKC runs the Laredo rail bridge; Ferromex and Union Pacific connect at Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass.
The mix moved from the rail yard to the highway
If you only watched the rails, you'd expect Laredo's trade to be shrinking. Imports through Laredo rose $20.3 billion, up 9.4%, over the same 12 months. What fell is the rail basket: cargo trucks and cars. What grew is machinery and electronics, and those cross on trucks.
Census imports by HS line and port, the 12 months through April 2026 against the 12 months before. Passenger vehicles fell at both crossings at once, which points past routing to the Section 232 auto tariff in effect since April 2025.
Same weight, worth half again as much
The average trailer crossing at Laredo carried 9,738 kg of cargo in April 2018 and 9,415 kg in spring 2026, 3.3% lighter. Real value per kilogram rose 53.6%, from $4.55 to $6.99 in constant dollars, and it has risen every year since 2020.
Crossing counts measure traffic. Value density measures what a corridor is becoming. Deflated by the import price index, value per truck is up 48.5% in real terms since April 2018, and the goods growing at Laredo are the ones whose prices barely moved: capital goods prices rose 10.2% over those eight years against 16.1% for all imports. By the traffic measure the border had a quiet year. By the density measure it's in the steepest two-year climb the series has shown.
Weight, value per kilogram and the deflated figures come from BTS TransBorder freight data and BLS import prices as analyzed in the Bridge post of June 15, 2026, and stay fixed at that vintage. Read the full dispatch on The Bridge → · Related: the Laredo Corridor dashboard.
Value per truck divides Port Laredo's total trade (imports plus exports, all modes) by northbound truck crossings, so it runs high in level; the trend is the finding. Latest month in the live series: August 2026.
Covarrubias, D. (2026). Same Trailer, Richer Cargo. Border Intelligence Desk, Daniel Covarrubias Labs. https://labs.drdanielcovarrubias.com/charts/richer-cargo.