Avocado imports put $641.5 million into U.S. trucking and warehousing — and Jetco is adding heavy-haul iron on the Gulf Coast

Mexican Hass avocado imports generated an estimated $641.5 million in U.S. transportation and warehousing activity and supported more than 4,150 jobs in fiscal year 2025-26, according to FreightWaves on Oct. 25. The numbers come from Texas A&M University researchers in an analysis released Wednesday by the Avocado Institute of Mexico, and they land in the same weekly Borderlands rundown as two operating moves drivers can actually use: a parcel network reaching El Paso and a Houston heavy-haul carrier adding iron for Gulf Coast industrial work.

Start with the scale of the avocado lane, because it explains why so much refrigerated capacity is pointed at two Texas crossings. The analysis estimated that Mexican Hass avocado imports generated $7.1 billion in total U.S. economic output and supported 37,163 jobs across multiple industries during the fiscal year ending June 2026. Nearly 98% of Mexican avocados entering the U.S. in 2024 were transported by truck through Texas land ports, primarily Pharr and Laredo. According to USDA data cited in the report, Pharr handled approximately 58.2% of Mexican avocado imports in 2024 and Laredo accounted for another 39.4% — together, effectively the whole lane. Once shipments clear the border, the fruit moves through trucking companies, refrigerated warehouses, wholesalers, distribution centers and food processors before reaching stores and restaurants nationwide, and the report found the shipments also generate spending on fuel, equipment, transportation services and repairs along the way.

The Texas A&M analysis put $3.2 billion in Mexican Hass avocado imports during fiscal year 2025-26 at an estimated $4.4 billion contribution to U.S. GDP, alongside $2.4 billion in labor income and approximately $1 billion in federal, state and local taxes. In Texas alone, an estimated $245.1 million in imports generated $428.9 million in economic output, contributed $265.5 million to the state's gross domestic product and supported 2,402 jobs. California, the largest avocado-consuming state, generated $968.2 million in economic output and supported 5,325 jobs associated with the imports. Together, Texas and California accounted for only 19% to 22% of the national economic contributions the study measured — the rest is the distribution tail that carries the fruit, and the drivers who haul it, into every region of the country. "Mexican avocados don't simply cross the border, they generate economic activity throughout the U.S. economy, supporting transportation and distribution networks, retailers, restaurants and communities across the country," said Ron Campbell, executive director of the Mexican Hass Avocado Import Association, in a statement quoted by FreightWaves. These are the study's estimates, presented by an industry institute — worth reading as a measure of the lane's footprint, not as a rate forecast.

The same rundown carried two expansions with nearer-term freight attached. Regional parcel provider GLS US has expanded its services into El Paso, Texas, strengthening its network across the Western U.S. and adding another market along the U.S.-Mexico border. The expansion, announced Oct. 20, gives West Texas businesses access to first-, middle- and final-mile delivery services, and the new location can also handle international shipping and parcel transportation for shipments weighing up to 150 pounds. El Paso is a major trade gateway backed by manufacturing, distribution and cross-border commerce with neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The move follows GLS expansions into Houston, Austin and San Antonio earlier this year, after it entered the Dallas-Fort Worth market in 2025. GLS US is part of GLS Group, a European parcel company operating in more than 50 countries and handling more than 900 million parcels annually.

Heavier freight got its own move. Houston-based trucking and logistics provider Jetco has launched a specialized cargo division aimed at growing demand for heavy-haul transportation tied to data centers, power generation, manufacturing and infrastructure projects along the Gulf Coast. The division combines Jetco's existing heavy-haul operations, established in 2008, with its expanding freight brokerage business to handle oversized, overweight and over-dimensional cargo. "Three years ago, we started positioning ourselves to capitalize on the accelerated growth of domestic power, manufacturing, and infrastructure, specifically data centers," Jetco President Kyle Kristynik said in a statement. The company has added four specialized trailers this year: two Faymonville multimax trailers capable of hauling 125,000 pounds each, a Goldhofer trailer rated for 180,000 pounds, and a Fontaine hydraulic removable gooseneck trailer with a 55-ton capacity in a 16-foot footprint. Jetco said the division will combine its own trucks and trailers with prequalified third-party carriers, and it plans to collaborate with Canadian sister companies Precision Specialized and Scott Woods Transport on specialized, heavy-haul and out-of-gauge movements. Jetco, part of Canadian transportation company The GTI Group, operates from Houston headquarters with facilities in Pasadena, Freeport and Dallas, Texas.

The practical takeaway runs in two directions. Reefer and produce drivers working the Pharr and Laredo gateways are hauling one of the most concentrated cross-border food lanes in the country — the study is a reminder that the volume behind those crossings is measured in billions, which is leverage when detention and border-delay pay are negotiated. And on the Gulf Coast, the heavy-haul build-out around data centers and power projects is still adding specialized capacity and third-party carrier work; drivers with oversize experience and the permits to match are the ones that market is short of.