A special report on how and why Mexico has emerged as the new nearshore destination.

Publication distributed by Disrupting-Nearshoring.com

It has been prepared by Ryder System, Inc.

For more than a generation, China was the destination of choice for offshore industrial manufacturing. The reasons made sense. An abundant and low-cost labor pool, cheap oil, and production costs generally less expensive than those found in the U.S., encouraged many manufacturers to relocate industrial operations overseas. Additionally, trade routes to and from Asia were abundant and reliable, albeit no faster than the speed of a freighter or container ship crossing the Pacific Ocean. Yet, rising wages and real estate costs in China, increases in oil prices, the delays inherent to transpacific shipping, and even shutdowns and logjams at U.S. seaports, forced some manufacturers to look elsewhere.

For a host of companies and for a variety of reasons, Mexico has become the destination of choice for industrial manufacturing, especially in the automotive, industrial, and electronics sectors. With wages rising in Asia, and especially China, as well as higher comparative transpacific shipping costs versus trucking across the U.S.-Mexico border, it makes sense to manufacturers to nearshore to a market that is the third-largest U.S trade partner and whose cross-border trade with the U.S. totals more than a billion dollars every day.

The Shift From China

China seemingly had it all, with low wages and real estate costs supporting a thriving industrial base. Even the cost of a barrel of oil, around $20 back in 2001, kept the cost of shipping raw goods and finished products low across the Pacific. Then conditions changed. Chinese labor and manufacturing costs began to rise, as did the price of oil. Labor costs went from 82 cents an hour in 2001 to almost $5 an hour in 2014, noted Bloomberg.com, or an almost 600% increase.2 Oil spiked from $20 to $85 a barrel during the same period. “Suddenly the benefits of making things in China aren’t so apparent,” the publication wrote in 2014, “especially if you’re selling those things to consumers in the U.S.”

What’s more, as consumer buying trends demanded quicker speed to market, inventory stranded on container ships crossing the Pacific for anywhere from 10 days to more than three weeks became an unnecessary burden. Add to that labor strife risks at U.S. West Coast seaports that led to shipping bottlenecks and threatened shut downs that left vessels idling or anchored just offshore from California to Washington. The event revealed to some overseas manufacturers the vulnerabilities of relying so heavily on seaports that handle more than 40 percent of U.S. trade.

Already, China was feeling the pinch. Manufacturers had turned their sites to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, or the ASEAN countries. These also include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Favorable demographics, labor training and business conditions, improved productivity, and an “integrated free trade area and economic community” appealed to global companies, Forbes reported. 

Yet, no matter how favorable the ASEAN became as compared to China, the Pacific Ocean remained a formidable and costly logistical impediment to sustained growth. Enter Mexico.

Trade, Mexico, and the Industrial Market

Long a destination for a variety of industrial and manufacturing sectors, Mexico is enjoying a spike in attention. Some 49 percent of manufacturing companies would consider reshoring at least part of their operations by 2020, citing favorable logistics and supply chains in the U.S. (90 percent), the diminishing cost structure differential (87%), and increases in domestic demand (80 percent). About one-third of high-tech companies are nearshoring to place production closer to the consumer, and about 40 percent of those surveyed plan to return sourcing to the U.S. or Mexico.

According to a survey from Peerless Research Group (PRG) some 46 percent of respondents have already engaged in or plan to nearshore within the next five years. Of those companies, 63 percent say Mexico is the leading destination, citing lower freight costs and improved speed to market. 

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tripled trade to more than $1 trillion and created a thriving cross-border market between partners the U.S., Mexico and Canada, notes Foreign Policy Magazine. Meanwhile, the authors wrote, stable macroeconomics and the pursuit of public and private investment and reforms translate to a manufacturing destination well positioned for continued growth. 

Not surprisingly, the logistics industry has surged in kind. Truck and rail traffic between the U.S. and Mexico set record highs in 2014; the value of truck freight was up 8.8 percent year-over-year, according to statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 

In response to the activity on both sides of the border, the industrial sector has seen increased real estate investments in distribution centers, supply-chain logistics, and even intermodal facilities that serve manufacturing operations and warehousing. As of April 2013, Mexico had more than 200 industrial parks with some 322 million square feet of industrial buildings. Planned development of manufacturing plants for various industrial goods will generate some 800,000 20-foot-equivalent units (TEU) of export traffic, and generate need for 40 million square feet of warehouse space, notes the Journal of Commerce.

The Benefits of Nearshoring

Against this backdrop, companies are eyeing Mexico as a nearshoring destination. Being closer to the U.S. market provides manufacturers a host of benefits, including: 

Proximity. The value of proximity cannot be overstated. A shipper can move freight from Mexico to the U.S. by ocean in 48 hours; by truck, it can take 24 hours or less. This compares to two to six weeks from Asia via pan-Pacific ocean container carrier routes, leading to faster customer service cycle times, especially for customized products. Working in the same or proximate time zones also allows companies to dispatch personnel to factories or facilities often a few hours away by plane or truck. Moreover, proximity creates opportunity to strengthen collaboration and cultural understanding between the U.S. company and its in-country workforce. 

Growing truck and rail traffic. More than 1.37 million trucks crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in the first quarter 2015, up 2.9 percent from the same period the year before. The value of goods rose by 9 percent over the same time last year, noted the Journal of Commerce, citing U.S. Bureau of Transportation statistics. 

Lower labor and production costs and the strengthening dollar. The low-cost labor pool that made China the darling of the global manufacturing sector has undergone a significant change compared to the Mexican market. In 2000, Mexican labor costs reportedly were 60 percent higher than those in China. Today, they’re reportedly at par or lower than labor costs in China. With manufacturing output projected to grow upward of 4.5% by 2016, this could translate to between $20 billion and $60 billion in economic output by 2018, notes Boston Consulting Group. 

While Mexico saw a 67 percent increase in average manufacturing sector wages from 2004 to 2014, productivity gains and a depreciation of the peso against the dollar helped offset wage growth, BCG concludes. Additionally, a 37 percent drop since 2004 in U.S. natural-gas prices for industrial users has resulted in energy-cost advantages, the company notes. Another seemingly favorable situation for U.S. companies, albeit one that makes Mexican providers nervous, is the declining value of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar. 

The currency reached 16:1 in July 2015, with some forecasting the exchange rate of 20:1 by year-end. While this theoretically would benefit U.S. outsourcers, how the devaluation of the peso would affect providers in the long term remains unknown. 

Cause for Caution 

Though lower in cost and closer to home, nearshoring manufacturing operations to Mexico is not without its challenges. Among some areas of concern are: 

Educating a young workforce. The country’s young, relatively untrained population means many manufacturers must invest in training programs to create or improve labor skills. Additionally, the driver shortage that continues to challenge the U.S. market exists for cross-border operations as well. 

Weak infrastructure and need for government investment. Suitable roads, telecommunications, and other infrastructure are in short supply, especially outside established sourcing communities or in emerging, rural, or less developed markets. Realizing this, President Enrique Peña Nieto launched the Transport and Communications Investment Program 2013-2018. The program would invest some $8 billion in more than 200 transportation infrastructure and communications projects.11 It will build and/or modernize some 82,000 miles of highways, almost 17,000 miles of railroad, 76 airports (64 with international flights), and 117 maritime ports, of which 68 are containers ports. By 2030, Mexico hopes to rank in the top 20 percent of the World Economic Forum’s Infrastructure Competitiveness Index. 

Border crossing delays and capacity issues. Border crossings historically have been fraught with compliance issues that create long transit times and delays. Southbound shippers need a Mexican customs broker for all freight imported into Mexico. Northbound shippers need a U.S. broker, a mastery of Mexico’s Customs for exportation, as well as Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism (C-TPAT) certification to help expedite border crossings. Additionally, for every three loaded trailers headed north from Mexico, only one loaded trailer heads south. This ongoing equipment and LTL network capacity unbalance and resulting crunch leaves both trailers and LTL networks in short supply. 

Crime and security. Though manufacturing centers closer to the U.S.-Mexico border and larger cities generally are safer than those in outlying areas, safety and security remain a concern. Some third-party logistics providers (3PLs) participate in the C-TPAT joint U.S. government-business initiative supported by the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as the Mexican government’s equivalent program, Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas (NEEC). The initiative seeks to promote global supply chain security and reduce border vulnerabilities for operations across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Asia.

Conclusion: Harbingers for Continued Growth 

Though China once was the darling of the industrial manufacturing outsourcing market, rising labor costs and needless delays related to transpacific shipping left companies looking for alternatives. With an abundant labor pool, lower wages, low energy costs, and simplified truck and rail transport, including intermodal operations, Mexico has emerged as the nearshore alternative to outsourced manufacturing. For organizations unfamiliar with nearshoring manufacturing or logistics operations, or seeking insights into this resurgent market, partnering with a 3PL partner with a broad presence and experience in Mexico can help lay the groundwork for a successful nearshoring opportunity.

Article distributed by Disrupting-Nearshoring.com

About Ryder Mexico 

Founded in 1994, Ryder Mexico has 35 in-country locations, maintains a presence in 15 cities, and manages more than 3.1 million square feet of warehouse space and more than 3.7 million square feet of yard space. The company manages close to 23,000 border crossings a month on behalf of North American manufacturers in various industries. 

Authors

– Gene Sevilla-Sacasa, Vice President of International Supply Chain Solutions, Ryder System, Inc.

– Darcee Scavone, Vice President & General Manager, Automotive, Aerospace & Industrial Supply Chain Operations, Ryder System, Inc.

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