Border truckers see results through organizing


.E. Araiza / Arizona Daily Star
A tractor-trailer drives away from Nogales’ Mariposa Port of Entry, which grew from four to eight commercial lanes in recent years.

16 hours ago • By Luis F. Carrasco

About the group
For more information or to join the Safe Border Trucking Association contact Martha Rascón at 520-223-3260.


NOGALES, Arizona — After years of failed attempts, members of the border trucking industry have come together as the Safe Border Trucking Association in an effort to improve business and address issues they say affect the region’s competitiveness.

The nonprofit group has 30 members in the Unites States and Mexico, representing about 300 trucks, who are involved in cross-border trade in the Southern Arizona region.


“Our real competitors aren’t the other local shippers, but the other ports of entry like El Paso, Laredo or Tijuana,” said Jaime Olaiz, association board member and CEO of Amado Trucking.


“Things that make us less competitive tend to be regulations,” he said. “Not so much the rules themselves, but their implementation at the local level.”


The group coalesced a year ago around the issue of what they considered to be excessive inspections at the border by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates the trucking industry.


When compared with ports of entry in Texas and California, Arizona had a disproportionately high number of Level 1 inspections — a complete check of both the driver and equipment — along with fines and out-of-service orders, state transportation officials have said.


After a proposed blockade of the Mariposa Port of Entry last year by Mexican drivers, federal and state officials came to the table and the association was able to focus the voices of a lot of frustrated people, Olaiz said.


“The first meetings were just a mass of very angry people screaming, and what can officials do with that? How can they answer that? If we hadn’t formed the group, it would have been very difficult to achieve anything,” he said.


What they have achieved, group members said, is to get Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials in Arizona to talk to their counterparts in other states and compare how they do things.


“Arizona believed they were implementing the rules as they should; Texas was doing their thing; but there wasn’t that communication,” Olaiz said. “Once you have a level playing field, now it’s up to us to be more competitive, give better service, have comparable rates, all of that.”


But it’s not only a perceived change in attitude that has led to a reduction in the number of fines, officials said. Communication and education efforts spearheaded by the association and state transportation authorities have helped.


Local safety fairs meant to educate carriers about what inspectors look for and how they can keep trucks on the road have been key, including a recent event held across the border.


“A mechanic might not have a visa, or the truck driver that brings a load in from the interior of the country up to the border. Now they also know how to keep the equipment in good condition before it’s inspected,” said Martha Rascón, the group’s executive director.


Communicating with transportation authorities has been crucial, group members said, if only to clear up what they see as misconceptions.


“The message we’re trying to push in these meetings is that we are serious companies, committed to safety, and that we do our job right,” Olaiz said.


Sometimes that communication results in immediate and practical improvements, said association chairman Alejandro Andrade.



“Something we discovered during one of our first meetings was that there was no way for a Mexican carrier to use the online review process that FMCSA uses because their ID code wasn’t accepted in the system,” he said.

The group’s lobbying efforts extend beyond Nogales. A recent visit to Washington, D.C., included meetings with Sen. Jeff Flake and Reps. Kyrsten Sinema and Raúl Grijalva of Arizona.


One of the association’s goals is to help Mexican companies in their interactions with U.S. officials. Sometimes, because of the language barrier or a lack of understanding of how things are done in another country, relatively simple matters become impossibly difficult, Rascón said.


With even the smallest federal fine costing thousands of dollars, the group can work with companies to document their case, in the language the U.S. Department of Transportation understands and using the forms they expect, board members said.


“We started with the DOT but there are plenty of issues we can tackle to improve this business region,” Andrade said.


While things are improving, Nogales is still losing out to other ports of entry even as the crossing numbers stay relatively flat, Andrade noted, with truck crossings hovering around 300,000 for the last three years.


“We’ve lost at least 30 percent of business from Sinaloa to Texas.

We used to have 90 percent of their produce come through here and it’s down to 60,” he said. “But mining is booming and agriculture in Sonora has grown in the last few years,” so the number of crossings hasn’t dropped.


“We have to do better,” he said.

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