Transportation Services Contract Mexico

A Transportation Services Contract Mexico (Contrato de Prestación de Servicios de Autotransporte Federal) is a written commercial agreement governed by the Ley de Caminos, Puentes y Autotransporte Federal (LCPAF, DOF 22 December 1993, last reformed 2023) Article 66 and the Código de Comercio Articles 576–604 (contrato de transporte), by which a licensed freight or passenger carrier (transportista or empresa de autotransporte) holding a concesión or permiso federal issued by the Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes (SICT, formerly SCT) agrees to transport goods (mercancías) or passengers (pasajeros) from an origin point (punto de origen) to a destination (punto de destino) in exchange for a freight charge (flete) or fare (tarifa).

The Ley de Caminos, Puentes y Autotransporte Federal (LCPAF) Article 66 establishes that freight transportation contracts (contratos de porte) must be formalised in writing and that the Carta de Porte — the Mexican bill of lading and cargo manifest — serves as the primary transport document evidencing the contract of carriage. Since 1 January 2022, the SAT (Servicio de Administración Tributaria) mandated that all freight transport operations be accompanied by a CFDI con Complemento Carta de Porte — a digital tax invoice incorporating the Complemento Carta de Porte XML supplement — under the Miscelánea Fiscal 2022. Carriers and shippers who transport goods without a valid CFDI Carta de Porte face SAT penalties under Artículo 84 of the Código Fiscal de la Federación (CFF).

The regulatory framework for federal cargo transportation in Mexico is administered by the SICT (Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes) through the Subsecretaría de Transporte and the Dirección General de Autotransporte Federal (DGAF). Companies providing federal freight transportation must hold a permiso federal de autotransporte de carga general or carga especializada issued by the DGAF, and their vehicles must be registered in the Registro Público Vehicular (REPUVE) administered by the Secretaría de Gobernación.

For cargo insurance, Article 66 LCPAF and the Reglamento de Autotransporte Federal y Servicios Auxiliares (RAFSA) establish minimum insurance requirements — carriers must maintain seguro de responsabilidad civil (civil liability insurance) for third-party damage and cargo insurance (seguro de carga). The Ley sobre el Contrato de Seguro (LCS) governs the cargo insurance relationship between the carrier and its insurer. Mexico's ratification of the Convenio sobre el Contrato de Transporte Internacional de Mercancías por Carretera (CMR Convention) — though Mexico is not a CMR signatory — means that cross-border shipments into the United States are typically governed by the applicable CMR principles or US carrier liability rules for the US leg.

For hazardous materials (materiales y residuos peligrosos) transportation, carriers must comply with the Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-002-SCT/2011 on transport of hazardous materials, the Reglamento para el Transporte Terrestre de Materiales y Residuos Peligrosos (RTTRMP), and the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT) manifest requirements. Special permits (autorizaciones especiales) from the SICT are required for oversize or overweight cargo (carga sobredimensionada or de gran peso) and for nighttime transport restrictions in certain federal highways.

Labour aspects of transportation services — driver hours of service, mandatory rest periods, medical fitness requirements — are regulated by the Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-SCT-2-2000 on operator qualification and the Reglamento de Tránsito en Carreteras y Puentes de Jurisdicción Federal (RTCPJF). Drivers must hold the appropriate federal driver's licence (licencia federal de conductor) category issued by the SICT.

A Transportation Services Contract Mexico is required whenever a business engages a licensed carrier for regular or periodic freight transportation under federal jurisdiction — and is mandatory under Article 66 of the Ley de Caminos, Puentes y Autotransporte Federal whenever the carrier holds a permiso federal from the SICT.

The contract is needed by manufacturers (fabricantes) and distributors (distribuidores) requiring regular full-truckload (FTL — carga completa) or less-than-truckload (LTL — carga parcial or grupaje) shipments between production facilities and distribution centres or retail clients across Mexican states. Industrial clusters in Monterrey (Nuevo León), Silao and León (Guanajuato), San Luis Potosí, and Guadalajara (Jalisco) generate high volumes of automotive parts, electronics, and consumer goods shipments requiring formal carriage contracts.

Importers and exporters operating through customs ports (puertos de entrada y salida) — Laredo (Nuevo Laredo), El Paso (Ciudad Juárez), San Diego (Tijuana), Manzanillo Port, and Veracruz Port — require transportation services contracts with carriers holding SICT permits and, for US-Mexico cross-border shipments, compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requirements on the US side. The CFDI Carta de Porte is mandatory for all domestic segments of these cross-border shipments.

E-commerce platforms (plataformas de comercio electrónico) — including Mercado Libre, Amazon México, and direct-to-consumer brands — using third-party logistics providers (operadores logísticos — 3PL) require transportation services contracts defining last-mile delivery obligations, returns handling (logística inversa), SLAs (service level agreements) for delivery times, and damage and loss liability allocation under Código de Comercio Article 590.

Food and pharmaceutical companies transporting temperature-controlled cargo (carga refrigerada — cadena de frío) require contracts with carriers holding specialised SICT permits for refrigerated transport and NOM-059-SSA1-2015 (pharmaceuticals) or COFEPRIS (Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios) compliance requirements for pharmaceutical distribution.

A valid Transportation Services Contract Mexico under the Ley de Caminos, Puentes y Autotransporte Federal (LCPAF) Article 66 and the Código de Comercio Articles 576–604 must include the following essential elements to be legally compliant and enforceable:

Identification of Parties and SICT Permit: Full legal name, RFC, Registro Público de Comercio reference, and domicilio of both the carrier (transportista) and the shipper or client (remitente or contratante). The contract must identify the carrier's permiso federal de autotransporte de carga number issued by the SICT Dirección General de Autotransporte Federal — a carrier operating without a valid SICT permit commits an infracción under Articles 74–76 LCPAF. The REPUVE vehicle registration numbers for vehicles assigned to the route should be listed or attached in a vehicle schedule (anexo de unidades).

Description of Transportation Services: Type of service — carga general (general cargo FTL or LTL), carga especializada (refrigerated, hazardous, oversize, valuables), or transporte de personal (employee shuttle services). Origin and destination points (puntos de origen y destino), including loading/unloading addresses, warehouse contacts, and port or customs facility identifiers. For regular route contracts (contrato de ruta regular), the defined route or corridor (corredor), frequency of services (frecuencia de servicios — daily, weekly), and vehicle type and capacity (tipo de unidad — tractocamión, camión rígido, torton, rabon — and carga útil in toneladas).

CFDI Carta de Porte Compliance: Obligation of the carrier to issue a valid CFDI con Complemento Carta de Porte for each freight movement under the contract, as required by the SAT Miscelánea Fiscal 2022 and Regla 2.7.1.25 of the Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal (RMF). The Complemento Carta de Porte must include: origin and destination locations (ubicaciones) with complete addresses; cargo description (bienes transportados) including SAT product catalogue code (clave de producto SAT); gross weight (peso bruto) and unit of measure; driver RFC and federal licence number; and vehicle plates (placas del vehículo). Failure to carry a valid CFDI Carta de Porte during transport results in SAT fines and SICT administrative sanctions.

Freight Charges and Payment Terms: Agreed flete (freight rate) per trip, per tonne, per kilometre, or monthly flat rate — all in MXN with IVA (16%) stated separately. Fuel surcharge (recargo por combustible) adjustment mechanism linked to IEPS (Impuesto Especial sobre Producción y Servicios) on diesel or the government-published diesel price index. Payment due dates, bank account details, and CFDI issuance obligations under CFF Article 29. Detention and demurrage charges (cargos por tiempo de espera) for loading or unloading delays beyond agreed free time.

Cargo Liability and Insurance: Under Article 590 of the Código de Comercio, the carrier is liable for cargo loss, damage, or delay caused during transport unless caused by force majeure (caso fortuito or fuerza mayor), inherent cargo defect (vicio propio de la mercancía), or shipper's negligence. The contract should specify the carrier's liability cap per incident (in MXN per tonne or per shipment) and require the carrier to maintain cargo insurance (seguro de carga) and civil liability insurance (seguro de responsabilidad civil) with minimum coverage amounts per the RAFSA requirements. Claims procedures, notice periods (typically 24–72 hours for visible damage, 7 days for concealed damage), and documentation requirements for cargo claims should be detailed.

Hazardous Materials Compliance: If the contract covers transport of materiales peligrosos, the carrier must hold the appropriate SICT special permit and comply with NOM-002-SCT/2011 and the RTTRMP — the contract should identify specific hazardous cargo classifications (UN number, HAZCHEM code, segregation requirements), emergency response procedures, and the SEMARNAT manifest (manifiesto de materiales peligrosos) obligations.

Operational Standards and SLAs: Pickup and delivery time commitments (tiempos de entrega prometidos), tracking and visibility requirements (rastreo GPS de unidades), incident notification protocols, and performance KPIs — on-time delivery rate (porcentaje de entregas a tiempo), cargo claim rate, and vehicle availability rate. Mechanisms for service credit or rate reduction for systematic SLA failures.

Term, Renewal, and Termination: Contract term (plazo del contrato — typically one year, renewable annually), notice periods for termination (aviso de terminación — typically 30–60 days), and termination for cause provisions including loss of SICT permit, systematic safety violations, or carrier insolvency.

Forms-legal.com provides this Transportation Services Contract Mexico template as a practical starting point. Contracts involving hazardous materials transport, cross-border operations into the United States, or multimodal logistics including rail or air require specialist legal review by a Licenciado en Derecho specialised in derecho del transporte and comercio exterior before execution.