Mexican truckers pessimistic about border opening

HOUSTON (Jan. 2, 2002, via truckinginfo.com) — While their government has been demanding that Mexican truckers have full access to the United States under the long-delayed terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement, many Mexican trucking companies have no interest in applying for U.S. operating authority.

“There is no intention whatsoever of an organized Mexican company going into the United States,” Rafael Tawil, director of Transportation Unidos Mexicanos, told the Houston Chronicle.

In fact, Tawil says, the new regulations will just mean more headaches for the truck traffic that currently just crisscrosses back and forth across the border inside the narrow commercial zone. Even trucks with no intention of heading deep into the U.S. will face tougher inspections.

After months of wrangling over the details, Congress last month ordered the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to install tough entry rules, which will take until the middle of the year to put in place. The transportation spending bill that includes the border opening legislation says the border cannot be opened until FMCSA conducts a safety examination of each Mexican applicant, verifying the company’s performance data and safety management program, insurance coverage, driver qualifications, and maintenance program. It must inspect any trucks that do not have a current CVSA sticker. If the company passes the safety exam, it can get a conditional operating authority good for 18 months. During that period, the agency must conduct a full-fledged compliance review before the company can get permanent authority.

A key condition of the law is that the DOT’s Inspector General must verify the new system is in place, and Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta must certify that opening the border does not pose an “unacceptable risk.”

Manuel Gomez, president of the Mexican trucking association CANACAR, told the Chronicle. that while a few companies have shown interest in offering international service, most of the 8000 trucking companies in his country do not want to travel in the United States. “It’s not economically feasible for a truck to make an international trip,” he said.

Issues such as the extra insurance required, as well as culture shock for Mexican drivers, may hold Mexican trucking companies back from operating in the U.S., Gomez told the Chronicle. And because Mexican trucks average 16 years of age, compared to 5 in the U.S., it will be some years before the country’s fleet is upgraded enough to where the equipment could survive a trek all the way from Mexico to Canada.

Meanwhile, Mexican truckers laugh at the thought of U.S. drivers negotiating Mexico’s potholed roads, signs that often point in the wrong direction, no rest areas or McDonald’s, and highway ambushes.