Mexican trucks won't enter U.S. until U.S. trucks enter Mexico
Latest delay in ongoing trucking border battle
By Dave Hannon -- Purchasing, 5/2/2007 10:15:00 AM
In a new twist, U.S. officials have decided to delay giving Mexican trucks free access across the U.S. border until U.S. trucks are granted the same access in Mexico. And no one is sure when that will be.
In a statement issued this week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said U.S. trucks will begin operating in Mexico for the first time ever starting at the same time Mexican trucks begin free travel in the U.S.
"This announcement puts the program on track to lower costs for U.S. consumers, make our economy more competitive and give U.S. truckers new business opportunities," Peters said.
The previous proposal between U.S. and Mexican officials said Mexican trucks would be given access as early as this month, and U.S. trucks would be given access to Mexican highways sometime in the next six months.
According to an announcement in the Federal Register, the demonstration program announced in February will allow up to 100 U.S.-domiciled motor carriers “to operate in Mexico on terms similar to those applicable to Mexico-domiciled carriers operating in this country. The Mexican government is finalizing an application form and procedures for use by interested U.S. motor carriers.”
While hundreds of Mexican carriers had applied to participate in the experiment, far fewer U.S. companies expressed interest in operating in Mexico, officials said.
Currently, Mexican trucks are allowed to enter a restricted zone across the U.S. border, where they have to unload their cargo to U.S. trucks, a process that Peters has said "is a waste of time, energy and money."
The latest decision means yet another delay to a program that has been mired in political quagmires for years. Peters said the plan was modified “based on” recent conversations with congressional critics and the Mexican government. Members of congress began pressuring Transportation Department officials to change the plan. In a statement released following the decision, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who sponsored legislation to delay the program, called the announcement “good news.”
“I was disturbed to learn earlier this year that Mexican truckers would have started the program a full six months before American truckers would have gained access to Mexico,” she said. “This would have simply been unfair.”
Last week a group including Public Citizen, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration seeking an injunction requiring the DOT and FMCSA either to comply with the law by providing public notice of the pilot program and an opportunity for the public to comment on the program – or to set aside the pilot project as unlawful.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Should Mexican trucks be allowed into the U.S.? Purchasing.com wants to hear your thoughts on this matter. Just click the READERS' RANT/Post a Comment button at the bottom of this page to provide your comments.
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American carriers wont enter mexico due to theft and possibility of being hijacked. New railers exchanged at the current sites along the border return with bald tires (they steal our tires and put bald ones on) and about anything else they can strip off it while in their possesion. Mexican truckers are not background checked...we dont know who they are difinitively. Mexican truckers generally have police records that would be felonies here in the U.S. Mexico has no drug testing facilities at all...they send their urine sample (on their honor) to U.S. testing facilities. We have no way of knowing who the sample is from. There is no database set up to check on safety compliance of their equipment. They tend to buy trucks from U.S. companies that would otherwise be scrapped or parted out.
A report last week showed a mexican driver, a drug cartel employee, holding multiple CDL's and being arrested trying to bring a shipment of drugs into the trailer exchange area in Texas. He still holds one of the 3 CDL's and is free to enter our country as soon as the green light goes on.
Mark Johnson - 9/3/2007 2:30:00 PM EDT -
Yes, all road-ready trucks should be able to carry merchandise from manufacturers or warehouses in Mexico, Canada, and the USA to the other countries in that group with certain taxes & fees to make the competition fare and protect the roads. This should eliminate foolish broker fees and truck reloading at borders.
Frank Dietz - 8/30/2007 4:14:00 PM EDT -
Movement of cargo from Mexico to the US is a reality, and only two things can be done about it; either US trucking companies pick up cargo in Mexico and come back trough mexican and US customs facilities and comply with all their legal requirements to get across, or Mexican trucking companies are allowed to do it and deliver directly in the US.
I do not believe US truckers want to drive to Mexico, it is senseles and and time consuming. There is no proffit in it.
On the other hand, for mexican truckers there is only one market, Crossborder and delivery of finished goods to the nearest distribution center, ie: Los Angeles, Ca. Phoenix, Ar. Dallas, Tx, San Antonio, Tx, etc., and from there, pickup of raw materials to delilver directly to the manufacturers in Mexico.(these are US companies that manufacture in Mexico).
Let all fall were it may. It is that simple.
George Pena - 5/9/2007 11:55:00 AM EDT -
I do not want any Mexican Trucks in the United States period.
Chris Jones - 5/5/2007 7:34:00 PM EDT -
If you have been to Mexico or along the border and seen the trucks they haul freight in. You would not want to be in front or behind them
Jerry Klinetobe - 5/3/2007 1:13:00 PM EDT
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