Cross-Border Trucking from Mexico: Who Files What

Four documents move a truckload from Mexico to your US dock. You file none of them, but each changes what your quote should say.

Whose Carta Porte is on this truck?

It isn't a customs form. It's a Mexican e-invoice with the SAT's freight supplement, and it proves who holds the goods and that they're moving in Mexico. A paid carrier issues an ingreso CFDI; a company hauling its own goods issues a traslado.

For exports, the SAT requires the Carta Porte before the goods reach the customs selection point, with its folio recorded in the DODA customs dispatch document.

The export pedimento: why we'd skip EXW

ANAM requires the exporter to hire an agente aduanal to file the export pedimento. Exports also pay the DTA processing fee.

We'd skip EXW. It puts the export on you, while FCA leaves it with the supplier who already needs a Mexican broker.

Which truck may go how far?

A Mexico-domiciled carrier with only a Certificate of Registration can operate in US border municipalities and their commercial zones (49 CFR 368.1). Going farther risks penalties and an out-of-service order.

Trucks at the World Trade Bridge, Port of Laredo, Texas, April 2017. Photo: Donna Burton, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

That's why the common setup has three legs: a Mexican carrier to the border, a transfer carrier across the bridge, and a US carrier to your warehouse.

For finished or fragile parts, we'd pay for a through-trailer. Each transload is another forklift touch, another chance of damage and another possible invoice line.

The US side starts before the bridge

The carrier files the ACE e-manifest. CBP must receive it 30 or 60 minutes before arrival, depending on the approved system (19 CFR 123.92). CBP's 2024 flyer specifies one hour, or 30 minutes for CTPAT.

That isn't your customs entry. Duty and any USMCA preference sit on the entry your US broker files.

Settle two things before you ask for quotes

First, who books the haul: you, under FCA at the plant, or the supplier, under FCA near the crossing. Second, which crossing. The Colombia Solidarity Bridge, for example, sits 247 km north of Monterrey according to its operator.

FAQ

Can a Mexican truck take my load straight to Dallas?

Only with long-haul authority under 49 CFR part 365, subpart E, granted provisionally after a safety audit. Border-zone authority isn't enough.

Which Carta Porte version applies?

Version 3.1, the only valid version since July 17, 2024.

Last checked: 6 Nov 2026.