Intermodal Transportation System for Asian Goods to U.S. via Mexico: An Analysis

U.S. shares more than 2000 miles of international border with Mexico. Texas has a greater number of border crossing ports than any other state in the U.S. The transit time for the goods to reach the U.S. west coast from Asia is around 12.3 days and the west coast alone handles 75% of the goods from Asia. The major ports of entries to the U.S. in the west coast are Los Angeles/ Long Beach ports. Due to increase in the volume of imports these ports are facing challenges in handling the goods. It is predicted that by 2020 these ports would receive around 40 million containers. This would increase the lead time, transportation cost and lead to congestion in the highways in the state of California. The problem can be solved if other ports in the west share a portion of the total imports. The ports along the west coast of Mexico are capable to handle the imports from Asia. It is highly essential to analyze the advantages of these ports and their intermodal capabilities to handle the increased volume of imports.