New heavy haul operation - Nuevo Leon, MX to California

The company I work for has openend a factory in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, MX manufacturing steel prefab building modules. Many of the loads are big! 74' x 15'6" x 10'6" and up to 68,000lbs. Other loads are 43' x 14'6" x 12' and only 32,000lbs. It's all oversized, permits, and requires escorts at least part of the way.

We're going to be doing 10-15 loads per month between Monterrey, MX and Northern California and the broker pricing we're getting just isn't lining up with expectations. It's all over the place, but say $10-20+/mile. Under any circumstance logistics is a big percentage of our delivered product costs, so we have to get this right. Unless something magical happens with a broker, it looks like we'll be going into the heavy haul business.

I'm looking at a couple different ways of setting this up. Your advice and criticism is welcome!

Given the size of these modules I'm thinking we run custom extended step-decks with open frames (something like a stepped giant container chassis trailer) and very wide track widths. Overall trailer width potentially as wide as 12'. I know this means our return trips will require permits (CA DOT said ok), but I think the extra width will be worthwhlie given the width and high center-of-gravity of the modules. Am I crazy? It would be something like this, but much heavier and not a pintle hitch:

https://www.vikingcarrier.com/?lightbox=dataItem-jyf939ks

I've been quoted about $70k for these.

In one scenario we buy our own tractors, trailers, and pilot cars. We hire company drivers and learn to do our thing. Becuase of the distances involved and having to deadhead back I'm proposing sending drivers out in teams of two CDL drivers. One driving the truck, the other driving the pilot car. Then on the return, the pilot car goes on the trailer and the drivers team drive back to the factory (3 hrs south of the border). For the sections where we need front and rear pilot cars we'll contract locally for the one additional pilot. My worry with this scenario is that I expect it's going to be rough finding experienced drivers even for good money, I'm worried about our ability to maintain a relatively small fleet without a lot of downtime, and I'm worried about all the things I know we don't know.

The other scenario is we contract with a handful of experienced owner-operators and we contract for the pilot cars. We would still buy the custom trailers. We could do the permitting from our office or leave that to the operators. We could guarantee 3 (or 4 if someone wants that many miles) roundtrips per month per owner-operator. I like this scenario since we're not buying or maintaining trucks and I think we'll have a better chance of getting good drivers. But again, we don't know what we don't know.

We've gotten our DOT and MC Numbers, insurance, etc. We're looking to start moving in the next few months.

How would you go about this if you were me?

 

Laredo-Columbia Bridge

 

I've got reasonable quotes for Mexican carriers to get me across the border. That we can do. But paying $20+/mile thereafter isn't a viable option for us.

 

Is this really true? There's a billion dollars a day of freight passing through the border at Laredo. And while it's not a large sample, we've had 20+ supply runs across the border over the last couple of months with no issue. I see dual plated trucks in Monterrey everyday. Somebody is doing it.