Security costs U.S. firms in Mexico as much as 2 percent of overall operating costs, according to a recent report by the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce. But that is still a bargain compared with the 7 percent that security costs U.S. firms in the United States.

Cargo thefts inside the U.S. are estimated between $30bn and $40bn, or the equivalent size of the annual gross estimated revenues of the total Mexican drug cartel industry, cargo crime experts have reported.

Thefts by armed criminal gangs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of North Texas, the fourth-largest urban metro region with its population of 6.5 million, and in the Miami/southern Florida region are worse than anywhere in Mexico, law enforcement studies have reported.

Source: North American's Corridor Coalition