Thread: Truckers face long delays at Mexican border

Truckers face long delays at Mexican border
December 26, 2008, 6:01 p.m.
The Arizona Republic


NOGALES - On bad days, trucks can idle in line eight hours waiting to enter the United States from Mexico. On the worst days, delays stretch overnight.

At stake is more than the hassle to drivers: Delays drain money from the Arizona economy by disrupting supply chains, spoiling produce and driving business tied to the trucking industry to other border states with faster crossings.

"It's getting worse, that's for sure," said Terry Shannon Jr., a Nogales customs broker.

By truckers' accounts, the longest delays entering the United States are on the Mexican side. Getting to and through Nogales, Son., typically adds four to six hours to a trip, several truckers said.

On the U.S. side, truckers get held up an average of 45 minutes at peak times, a figure that varies by hour and season and has gradually crept up a few minutes in recent years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics.

About $19 billion worth of goods, ranging from avocados to car parts, enters Arizona from Mexico every year by truck. Long delays just at Nogales, the busiest port into Arizona, with about a quarter-million commercial crossings a year, can cost businesses and the economy hundreds of millions of dollars, experts and studies suggest.

Outdated roads, undersized inspection stations and more-stringent inspections add to the crossing time and have prompted U.S. and Mexican officials to propose and take steps to alleviate the problems. In the meantime, a sharp economic downturn has put the growth in delays on hold. From 2007 to 2008, the number of commercial-truck crossings has fallen, customs agent Brian Levin said.

The border bottleneck was evident one Friday earlier this month in Nogales, Son., where haulers waited five to six hours in a 3-mile line amid a haze of diesel smoke. Veteran truckers said nowadays their cargo is almost always opened for inspection on the U.S. side, but they praised U.S. officials for being more efficient.


Old infrastructure
In the next three months, half of the fresh Mexican produce consumed in the U.S. will come through Nogales. The longer that fruit and vegetables sit in trucks, the sooner they spoil, and the more families may pay at the supermarket.

Three-quarters of Mexican mangoes came through Nogales in the mid-1990s, said Chris Ciruli, a produce distributor in Nogales, Ariz. He watched Arizona's share dwindle to one-third as the rest headed to southern Texas to avoid long border delays in Nogales.

"If Arizona doesn't modernize its ports, we will keep losing out to Texas and California," Ciruli said.

Only two northbound lanes lead uphill to Mexican export stations in Nogales, Son., and then to U.S. import checkpoints. A rush of trucks quickly clogs the toll road. Some delays occur when too few export officers are on hand. Sometimes truckers who lack a proper visa abandon their rigs in the queue to find a replacement driver with the necessary paperwork.

In Mexico City, the transportation ministry is in negotiations with the operator of the toll highway to widen the road, said Luis Ramirez, a border consultant who advises Gov. Janet Napolitano on the pro-trade Arizona-Mexico Commission. Mexico has also budgeted design money for a new customs and immigration center for all outbound travelers, but construction isn't fully funded yet.

Mexican officials could not be reached for comment on the delays.

Once truckers reach U.S. soil, they find a port of entry built in the 1970s for a capacity of 400 rigs a day, not the current 1,600-a-day peak. In Washington, Congress cut from the budget this year $200 million needed to modernize Nogales' Mariposa port. Design work continues amid hopes the new U.S. president will include the work in economic-stimulus spending.

"This project is critical," Ramirez said. "But if all we do is move the bottleneck 300 feet (back toward Mexico), then no, we haven't done anything."


Enforcement delays
Shannon, the customs broker and a former chairman of the port authority in Nogales, credits Customs and Border Protection for keeping the Mariposa port functional despite the heavy demand.

"Customs is taking a hard line on narcotics. They are looking at more trucks more often and taking longer doing it," he said.

By mid-December, customs agents had stopped 24 hidden loads of drugs in 2008, up from 14 for all of 2007.

In addition to stopping drugs, customs agents check travelers' immigration status, nab fugitives, search for other contraband, enforce trade laws and prevent crop-killing pests from crossing the border. In recent years, stopping anything or anyone bent on terrorism has become priority No. 1.

"Our ports were not built for the threats we're dealing with or built to deal with the volumes," Levin said.

Customs has taken several measures to speed up the inspection process.

Haulers must forward their manifests to U.S. customs officers an hour before they reach the port. Also, firms can get certified to cross with fewer physical searches or can enroll in programs that guarantee an express lane at the border. The agency also has adjusted staffing levels based on demand.


Upside of downturn
The global recession is taking a toll on trucking firms but also is helping limit delays along the U.S.-Mexican border.

"The amount of freight is down significantly. It's like nothing we've ever seen before," said Dave Williams, vice president of Phoenix-based Knight Transportation and chairman of the Arizona Trucking Association.

The lighter traffic would allow for facilities or roads to be upgraded with less hassle, some industry experts said.

"What better time to fix this?" said Larry Woolsen, past chairman of the Arizona Trucking Association. "There's an opportunity, an opening. It will be worse when the economy snaps back."

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/106131.php

Outdated roads, undersized inspection stations and more-stringent inspections add to the crossing time and have prompted U.S. and Mexican officials to propose and take steps to alleviate the problems. In the meantime, a sharp economic downturn has put the growth in delays on hold. From 2007 to 2008, the number of commercial-truck crossings has fallen, customs agent Brian Levin said.

Well, if the Mexican government would have a bit more of control over that country and its drug lords, it would not take that long. Of course, it is always our fault since we have roads we cannot fix or widen because illegals are sending tax dollars to Mexico instead of helping improve our side of the border; more stringent inspections holding up these trucks is our fault. since apparently we have no right to secure our borders or enforce our laws.

I have no sympathy for the writer or the truckers ... if this is what we have to do because of the Nutty crap going on south of the border than this is what we have to do

If manufacturers in China were using the ports in LA, there wouldn't be a problem. But oh no, that would be employing Americans. Besides, the more they complain about the bottle neck, the more they hope for the NAFTA highway.

About $19 billion worth of goods, ranging from avocados to car parts, enters Arizona from Mexico every year by truck. Long delays just at Nogales, the busiest port into Arizona, with about a quarter-million commercial crossings a year, can cost businesses and the economy hundreds of millions of dollars, experts and studies suggest.

So what? 1st of all, Mexico can keep its advacos! Most Americans wouldnt buy them if they knew they came from Mexico. Car parts should be made in the USA, not China, Mexico, or any other country. If manufacturers wouldnt have outsourced American jobs there wouldnt be any delays getting their merchandise to the stores.

Originally Posted by butterbean

About $19 billion worth of goods, ranging from avocados to car parts, enters Arizona from Mexico every year by truck. Long delays just at Nogales, the busiest port into Arizona, with about a quarter-million commercial crossings a year, can cost businesses and the economy hundreds of millions of dollars, experts and studies suggest.

So what? 1st of all, Mexico can keep its advacos! Most Americans wouldnt buy them if they knew they came from Mexico. Car parts should be made in the USA, not China, Mexico, or any other country. If manufacturers wouldnt have outsourced American jobs there wouldnt be any delays getting their merchandise to the stores.

I couldn't agree more! They can just bring those jobs home and kill two birds with one stone...oh, but that would make too much sense and benefit the American people, instead of profits for big business...silly me. It's ok to fork over our tax money to keep china and mexico working though.

Maybe if they didn't hide drugs and illegals in with their veggies, the U.S. wouldn't need to inspect every truck so carefully.