Tradelossa celebrates 50 years

Aurelio de los Santos Murillo started a company with a small truck and one task, hauling wood from the mountains outside Durango, Mexico. He founded Transportes de los Santos e Hijos, S.A. of C.V. on November 16, 1973.

Don Aurelio de los Santos Murillo

Fifty years later, Aurelio de los Santos would not recognize the business he started and that has encompassed three generations of his family. Today, Tradelossa is one of Mexico’s most renowned specialists in ultra-heavy and oversize hauling, project cargo logistics, assemblies, maneuvers and forwarding. The company serves clients in Mexico, the U.S., Canada, Central America, Western Europe and China.

“Don Aurelio’s ingenuity, creativity, experience and conviction became the base of what today is Tradelossa, a company whose main pillars are hard work and looking out for each other,” said Carlos Matthey de los Santos. “Those values and our great team are the foundation of our success. Although we have evolved into a more institutionalized company, we believe that nimbleness and empowerment have led us to make faster and better decisions. Those values and our great team are the foundation of our success.”

Tradelossa operates five main locations– its historic first site in Durango as well as Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Guanajuato and Mexico City.

The company has shown remarkable resilience in moving forward after setbacks, aways aiming for the most creative solutions and reinforcing the company with talent and state-of-the-art equipment.

Award-winning jobs

Tradelossa’s feats include becoming the first Latin American company to win a SC&RA Moving Job of Year award in 2015. The winning job involved moving a 1.9 million-pound reactor for the Etileno XXI Mega Project from the Gulf of Mexico port in Coatzalcoalcos. The transport covered 7.5 miles of major obstacles. The 20-day project required detailed planning and several vehicle configuration changes.

Started by Don Aurelio de los Santos Murillo in November 1973, Tradelossa is one of Mexico’s most renowned specialists in specialized transportation and rigging.

Tradelossa also added a SC&RA Rigging Job of the Year award to the trophy case. At a gas plant, Tradelossa’s project team developed a detailed engineering plan to move a 17.5-ton low-pressure turbine 165 feet on the ground. Next, team members had to lift the turbine 27 feet, then move it 23 feet while still above ground. Each step was complicated by heavy rain. A 550-ton gantry system was used to complete the job.

In 2018, the company started one of its largest projects, transporting 100 wind towers and their components, including 300 blades, from the Port of Altamira to the community of El Mezquite in northern Mexico.

Tradelossa’s success can also be attributed to its investment in new equipment such as the Goldhofer ‘Faktor 5’ specialized girder bridge equipment and a 1,100-ton SBL hydraulic gantry.

Tradelossa has become one of the few hauling and rigging companies in Latin America to offer a level of expertise and technological capacity needed to bring its customers unique solutions for their most complex projects, according to Carlos Matthey de los Santos.

A proud heritage

More recently, the company won a 2023 SC&RA Hauling Job of Year award. The project featured the movement of a 765,004-pound compressor alongside other huge components.

Suffice it to say the Tradelossa team will never forget its heritage.

“Our founder’s legacy of effort, tenacity and commitment is palpable in each of the projects we have achieved throughout our history,” said Carlos Matthey de los Santos. “His values live in each of us who make up this great company, and we are excited to continue striving to achieve new dreams in the next 50 years.”