Cabotage rules prohibit foreign carriers and drivers from hauling domestic freight inside another country: a Mexican driver cannot move U.S. point-to-point loads, and U.S. carriers cannot run domestic freight within Mexico. Violations risk fines, equipment seizure, and visa loss.
Cabotage is the transport of domestic freight within a country by a foreign carrier, and the rules of Mexico, the United States, and Canada all restrict it. In U.S. terms: a Mexican carrier and its B-1 drivers may handle international freight moving to or from Mexico, but may not pick up a load in Dallas and deliver it in Chicago as domestic commerce. The mirror applies southbound, where Mexican law reserves domestic transport for Mexican carriers, and similar rules govern Canada. Enforcement blends immigration law (the driver's status), customs law (the tractor and trailer's temporary importation), and transport authority.
Cabotage is the invisible wall that shapes North American capacity. It is why cross-border equipment and drivers cannot simply blend into domestic fleets between international loads, why empty returns get priced into cross-border rates, and why the through-trailer model, in which trailers cross but tractors and drivers stay in their home country, became the dominant design. Compliance is straightforward if unglamorous: match every driver and tractor to freight with a genuine international character, keep the international bill of lading with the movement, and refuse the tempting domestic backhaul that a foreign driver offers cheap. Enforcement waves have made this a live issue rather than a technicality, and the operational fallout (tighter cross-border driver capacity, firmer rates) is part of today's market math.
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