Why Mexico Freight Might Be the Biggest Opportunity Brokers Are Ignoring

Many people in logistics say they fell into the industry by accident. For Matt Silver, Co-Founder and CEO of Cargado, the path started much earlier.

Silver’s first real exposure to freight came during high school when he began working as an intern at Coyote Logistics. At the time, the company was still early in its growth, and the job he was given was straightforward but demanding. His role was to track freight by calling drivers and dispatchers for updates throughout the day.

“If you wanted to know where a load was, you had to call the driver or dispatcher,” Silver explained. “There were no telematics options. You just had to pick up the phone and get the update.”

Not long after, he was pushed into carrier sales, where he began cold calling trucking companies to help cover loads. One of his earliest assignments involved trying to find carriers willing to move heavy paper loads from Staten Island to Massachusetts.

The experience was a crash course in persistence.

“Everybody hung up on me,” Silver recalled. “I kept calling until I finally found someone willing to take the load.”

Those early experiences gave him something more valuable than a quick win. They taught him how freight actually moves, how brokers negotiate with carriers, and how relationships are built in the industry.

Learning the ownership mindset early

Silver spent more than a decade at Coyote, working across several roles that ranged from operations and carrier sales to internal technology support. During that time, he learned one lesson that still shapes how he builds teams today.

Ownership matters.

Even early in his career, he approached the work with the mindset that the company depended on it. That mentality is something he now looks for in the people who work at Cargado.

“I see employees every day who treat the company like it’s their own,” Silver said. “They see a problem and they pick it up. They’re not going to say, ‘that’s not in my job description.’”

In logistics, that kind of initiative can make the difference between solving a problem quickly and letting a shipment spiral into a service failure.

How freight technology has evolved

When Silver first entered the industry, the technology environment looked very different than it does today.

Drivers sometimes had to stop at truck stops just to fax paperwork or rate confirmations. Brokers relied heavily on phone calls and spreadsheets to manage freight.

“I used to send drivers to truck stops to fax them rate confirmations,” Silver said. “That was just how the industry worked.”

Over time, the industry began shifting toward digital tools. One of the most significant changes came with the introduction of mobile apps designed specifically for drivers.

Silver believes companies like Convoy and Uber Freight played a major role in accelerating that shift.

“What they did was force drivers to get comfortable with mobile apps,” he said. “All of a sudden, carriers could book a load through an app instead of waiting on hold for someone in a brokerage office.”

That transition helped move logistics toward a more digital environment, though many companies still rely on very old systems.

In fact, some freight companies have only recently moved away from decades-old platforms that had been embedded in their operations for years.

The reality of AI in freight

Artificial intelligence is now the newest wave of innovation in logistics, but Silver believes there is still a lot of confusion about what AI actually means in practice.

Many tools labeled as AI today are simply automation.

The bigger shift, he explained, is how AI is changing the way teams build and use technology.

“Humans are becoming the bottleneck,” Silver said. “AI can generate a lot of code and ideas, but someone still has to review it and make sure it actually works.”

Without that oversight, AI-generated systems can quickly create messy or unstable software.

The companies finding success with AI today are the ones using it as a tool to accelerate their teams rather than trying to replace people entirely.

The opportunity brokers are overlooking

While technology trends dominate industry conversations, Silver believes the biggest opportunity in freight today lies somewhere else.

Cross-border freight.

Specifically, Mexico.

Moving freight across the US Mexico border is significantly more complex than domestic shipments. A typical cross-border move can involve multiple trucking companies, customs brokers on both sides of the border, transfer yards, warehouses, and facilities in two different countries.

It also involves two languages, two regulatory environments, and a detailed set of operating procedures.

At first glance, the process can look chaotic.

“It feels chaotic when you see all the emails and WhatsApp messages flying around,” Silver said. “But in reality it’s a playbook that runs over and over again.”

Many cross-border shipments follow strict operating schedules. Automotive suppliers and manufacturers, for example, often require shipments to move at very specific times and cross the border within narrow windows.

Once a broker understands the process, the complexity becomes far more manageable.

Why domestic truckload alone is becoming harder

Silver believes many brokers remain overly focused on domestic truckload freight, even as margins in that segment become increasingly competitive.

The reality is that domestic dry van freight has become one of the most crowded parts of the logistics industry.

“Domestic US truckload dry van is just not where you win right now,” Silver said.

Cross-border freight, on the other hand, still offers opportunities for brokers willing to learn the process.

The additional complexity creates barriers to entry that discourage some companies from participating. But those same barriers also create opportunities for brokers who are willing to invest time in learning how the system works.

Helping the industry expand into Mexico and Canada

Today, Silver spends a significant amount of time helping brokers and carriers better understand cross-border logistics.

One of his favorite messages to receive comes from brokers who say they have been turning down Mexico freight from customers because they do not know how to handle it.

“My favorite message is when someone says they keep passing on Mexico freight and want to understand how to do it,” he said.

Those conversations often lead to discussions about the operational playbook required to move cross-border shipments successfully.

Silver is also eager to talk with trucking companies interested in expanding their operations into Mexico.

Carriers that want to service cross-border lanes often need larger trailer pools and strong partnerships with Mexican carriers. Trailers may remain in Mexico for extended periods before returning to the United States, which means equipment planning becomes critical.

But for those willing to invest in the infrastructure required, cross-border freight can open significant growth opportunities.

The next evolution of freight

Silver believes the logistics industry will continue evolving rapidly in the coming years.

Artificial intelligence will reshape how brokers manage operations. New technology companies will continue building tools designed to streamline workflows and automate repetitive tasks.

At the same time, the fundamentals of freight will remain unchanged.

Relationships will still matter. Operational expertise will still determine success. And the companies willing to explore new areas of the supply chain will continue to find opportunities others overlook.

For Silver, that opportunity lies in cross-border freight.

Brokers and carriers who take the time to understand Mexico and Canada lanes today may find themselves ahead of the curve as North American supply chains continue to evolve.