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Transportation in Joplin, one of several local trucking companies watching the effects of a pilot program that will allow Mexican truck drivers to haul freight throughout the United States.
Joplin Globe Photo /

Published August 22, 2006 12:59 am - Along with driver shortages and rising fuel costs, trucking company owner Mark Fields now worries about losing business to companies based in Mexico.

Path cleared for Mexican truckers
By Melissa Dunson

Along with driver shortages and rising fuel costs, trucking company owner Mark Fields now worries about losing business to companies based in Mexico.

But Fields, who has 20 trucks, might be surprised to learn that his soon-to-be, Mexican-based competitors face the same fear regarding him.

More than 10 years after the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed with the idea of opening U.S. borders to Mexico and Canada for international trucking, Ian Grossman, an official with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said the Department of Transportation will announce a plan at the end of this year giving 100 Mexican carriers access into the United States for a one-year pilot program.

Mexican trucking companies are now taking loads within a designated area three to 20 miles past the U.S. border, and transferring the loads to U.S. trucks to deliver within the states. The same is true for U.S. loads being shipped into Mexico.

More competition

Small carriers like Fields’ JVF & Sons LLC in Joplin are concerned that they won’t be able to compete with Mexican trucking companies because of the difference in the countries’ wage rates.

Todd Spencer, a spokesman with the national Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said there already is a driver shortage in the industry. He said that if increased competition pushes down wages, recruiting will become even more difficult.

Fields agrees.

“They work for nothing, pretty much,” Fields said of Mexican-based drivers. “It’s going to make our pay go down even further. It’s going to impact us a lot.”

Spencer presented written testimony last month to the U.S. International Trade Commission citing studies showing that Mexican drivers’ pay is 25 percent to 50 percent of the amount U.S. drivers receive, which can range from $40,000 to $60,000 a year.

Larger trucking companies such as Joplin-based Contract Freighters Inc., which has more than 600 trucks in its fleet and serves all of North America, will face the same competition as small carriers, but they could benefit from the situation by potentially growing their businesses south of the border and increasing competition in the Mexican market.

Herb Schmidt, chief executive officer for CFI, said the policy changes aren’t as much of an issue for larger companies like his.

“It’s more of an issue for them (Mexican companies) than us,” Schmidt said. “It doesn’t scare us. We’re not intimidated by the competition. They still have to pick up and deliver on time just like us.

“In all honesty, most of them don’t have the financial wherewithal to make it here. They’re not accustomed to operating in the U.S., just like we’re not accustomed to operating in Mexico. They don’t relish having to come up here. They don’t want to come over here and compete. It’s more out of concern for their existence.”

Neither side agrees

The owner-operator association reported at the end of 2005 that some Mexican trucking companies were unhappy when U.S. congressional negotiators and the White House reached a deal on Nov. 28 allowing Mexican truckers to operate beyond the border.

The fear is not only American companies establishing themselves in Mexico, but that Mexican carriers won’t be able to compete in the U.S. marketplace, creating a lose-lose situation.

Schmidt said that if he had his way, the policy would retain the practice of Mexican and U.S. trucks handing off trailers at the border.

“I wish they’d just leave it the way it used to be,” he said. “It was a partnership in the truest sense of the word. When their business grew, our business grew, and vice versa. They serve our customers in Mexico, and we serve their customers here.”

Spencer, with the owner-operator group, said most of the Mexican carriers are happy with the current stop-at-the-border rules.

Schmidt said the competition with Mexico isn’t having a large impact on CFI’s business, but it has made a dent. While his company potentially could find benefits in an open-border situation, Schmidt said he is sympathetic toward smaller carriers.

Jason Bates, a spokesman for Tradewinds Transportation, a Joplin company with 34 trucks, said he is concerned about the difference in wages between the two countries, but he doesn’t think the competition will significantly affect areas more than one or two states from the border.

“We can’t pay our drivers what they do,” Bates said. “But they’re paying the same price for fuel. You might see an effect along the border, but most companies aren’t going to look to Mexico to fill their needs.

“I really don’t see it being a big problem.”

Bates said he is sympathetic toward the Mexican drivers. “Just because you’re from another country shouldn’t mean you can’t work in this country,” Bates said.

Grossman, with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said the program is simply meant to implement the NAFTA provisions and is not the direct result of a push by the trucking industry. “The administration has always been in favor of implementing NAFTA,” Grossman said. “This is more of an administrative priority.”