Thread: Border trucking may be doomed

David Hendricks: Border trucking may be doomed

Web Posted: 09/05/2007 07:56 PM CDT


San Antonio Express-News

September may be the month San Antonio has awaited for nearly 12 years.

Cross-border trucking finally may be at hand. Even if the first Mexican trucking companies receive their permits soon to start a one-year pilot program, the experiment probably won't last long.

Opponents for now have exhausted their short-term options in Congress and the courts to block Mexican trucks from making U.S. deliveries and vice versa, as originally approved under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

For San Antonio, NAFTA meant a bigger role in the distribution and warehousing industries if truck drivers did not have to stop and exchange northbound and southbound loads in the U.S.-Mexico border zone.

Under the trade agreement, the cross-border provision originally was to allow international deliveries among the border states in December 1995 and continentwide in 2000.

Ever since the Clinton administration ordered delays in the NAFTA provision, San Antonio has lobbied more than any other U.S. city to see cross-border trucking started because it has the most to gain economically.

Actually, all of North America has much to gain. Cross-border trucking promises to reduce the inefficiency of the border exchange of containers between carriers and drivers. Time and money would be saved by a smoother flow of raw materials and products.
San Antonio could be an ideal distribution city, with interstates and rail lines running in all directions. Little international freight stops here, however, because San Antonio is only 2 1/2 hours from the border.

Freight to and from the Monterrey-Saltillo, Mexico, industrial center does not stop in San Antonio, even though it should be a convenient one-day trip. That is because it must change drivers at the border, usually with a one-day delay or longer.

Trucking companies therefore invested in few terminals or warehouses in San Antonio as U.S.-Mexico trade zoomed after NAFTA. Without more terminals and warehouses, San Antonio often has been overlooked for industrial plants during the past dozen years.

San Antonio therefore has been stuck as a place to receive freight, but with little to ship elsewhere, an imbalance that logistics companies shun.

If Mexican trucks start making deliveries this month into the United States, they won't venture far into the interior in the first weeks and months. San Antonio would be one logical stop for Mexican truck drivers, allowing U.S. carriers to finish deliveries.

But San Antonio should not assume that cross-border foes will cease their political fight once the border opens. The Teamsters and its allies are continuing their federal lawsuit to stop cross-border trucking, and opposition continues to simmer in Congress, especially among Democrats.

Congress even might pull funding for the experiment before it is scheduled to end.

Even if the one-year test period for cross-border trucking is completed, it would end right in the heat of next year's presidential race. Even if the test period is successful, in terms of saving time and money on shipments, neither political party would have the stomach to bring up the idea of permanent cross-border trucking.

If the Democrats maintain or strengthen their control of Congress in 2008, the party can be expected to find a way to block cross-border trucking on a permanent basis. A Democrat-run U.S. Department of Transportation, if a Democrat is elected president, certainly would not push for it.

U.S.-Mexico trade relations would take a hit. And the waiting in San Antonio would start all over again.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/st ... 9b298.html

We can only hope this dangerous scheme is stopped, but the OBL is pushing very hard for this. We have to keep up the pressure against it.

It all comes down to greed. San Antonio is willing to throw the nation under the bus to advance its financial prospects. We have to set priorities and consider the greater good. The consequences of having Mexican trucks and drivers on our nation’s highways are just too great to justify San Antonio’s ill-conceived support.

My hope is that when push comes to shove, US truckers will literally create a zipper train of trucks to block Mexican trucks from entering the US. Miles and miles of 16 wheel trucks parked zipper style across every open lane stretching for miles. Posted signs "Let No Mexican truck pass!" There won't be enough State or Gvnt police with the ability to drive those trucks away to free up the road. Take one away, add three. Just keep blocking!!! (Ok, now I'm hearing Grateful Dead in my head ... Keep Truckin'

Business




Cross-border trucking program delayed again

Web Posted: 09/05/2007 08:10 PM CDT

Meena Thiruvengadam
Express-News Business Reporter

Today was supposed to be the day that a decades-old trucking war ended, but a few last hurdles remain before a cross-border trucking experiment can begin.
Late Wednesday, the Department of Transportation was waiting for its inspector general to issue a report on the program. It also was waiting to issue a response to that report and for the Mexican government to grant a U.S. trucking company the authority to operate in Mexico.


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Without those three items in place, the department would "not be moving forward with the program on Thursday," spokeswoman Melissa DeLaney said.

The inspector general's office did not return phone calls or e-mails.

The new program will allow Mexican trucks, for the first time in more than 25 years, to be permitted to make deliveries anywhere in the United States. American truckers would get the right to make deliveries anywhere in Mexico.

The program would satisfy one of the last outstanding components of the North American Free Trade Agreement.


On The Web:

Department of Transportation
Office of Inspector General
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Public Citizen
Baltazar Quijada, a spokesman for Mexico's transportation ministry, or SCT, said officials had canceled media interviews regarding the cross-border trucking trial program and were not answering press inquiries Wednesday. Mexico issued guidelines Friday for U.S. trucking companies wishing to participate in the program.
Mexican trucks have not been allowed to operate beyond 25-mile border zones since 1982. Before that, Mexican trucks were allowed to operate in the United States, but U.S. trucks were not allowed to operate in Mexico.


In the latest battle, an appeals court last week rejected a measure filed by the Teamsters, Public Citizen and other groups to stop the federal government from implementing its pilot.

"For them to just barrel ahead with this pilot program is just wrong," said Robert Shull, the Public Citizen's deputy director for auto safety. "This whole thing is a sham, and the people are now at risk."

DOT announced plans for the pilot in February. The program would allow as many as 100 Mexican trucking companies to make deliveries from Mexico anywhere in the United States. Up to 100 U.S. carriers would gain similar access to Mexico.

The carriers, trucks and drivers would have to pass safety inspections and other security checks. "We want to make sure we effectively monitor how well we're doing in terms of crashes, enforcement data and compliance," said John Hill, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an arm of the Transportation Department.

Thirty-eight Mexican trucking companies have passed U.S. inspections. Seventeen companies have failed for reasons including inadequate drug and alcohol testing procedures, lack of the appropriate insurances and incomplete rules on the number of hours drivers can stay on the road, Hill said.

Three U.S. carriers have passed safety inspections in Mexico, according to legal filings. Mexican officials plan to grant the carriers authority to operate in Mexico as soon as the U.S. grants Mexican carriers similar authority, the filings said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
meenat@express-news.net
Express-News Mexico correspondent Sean Mattson contributed to this report.



http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/st ... 9b442.html

Originally Posted by Jrdn

My hope is that when push comes to shove, US truckers will literally create a zipper train of trucks to block Mexican trucks from entering the US. Miles and miles of 16 wheel trucks parked zipper style across every open lane stretching for miles. Posted signs "Let No Mexican truck pass!" There won't be enough State or Gvnt police with the ability to drive those trucks away to free up the road. Take one away, add three. Just keep blocking!!! (Ok, now I'm hearing Grateful Dead in my head ... Keep Truckin'

When they run out of trucks, I'll add my car to the blockade. I intend to keep an eye out for any businesses that have Mexican trucks unloading at their facilities. I will call them and tell them that they have just lost me as a customer and why.