Mexico Border: Traffic Will Be Light
OLIVER B. PATTON
WASHINGTON EDITOR
The Mexico border has been opened to long-distance trucking, but don't expect many Mexican trucks to come north right away. Nothing will happen until mid-year, which is how long it will take for the U.S. Department of Transportation to put its border rules in place. Even then, however, the northbound traffic will be light.
According to the General Accounting Office, the watchdog agency that keeps an eye on other federal agencies, relatively few Mexican carriers will take advantage of the open border. They don't have established business relationships beyond the commercial zones, they will struggle to find affordable insurance and they will face high registration fees, GAO said. Not only that, border congestion will continue to make long-haul trucking an expensive proposition.
This scenario probably will change over time, but it will not change any time soon, GAO indicated in a report prepared for Congress.
The report is critical of the Department of Transportation, saying it has not done enough to prepare for the open border. "(DOT) does not have a fully developed or approved operational plan in conjunction with border states to ensure that Mexican-domiciled carriers comply with U.S. safety standards," GAO said.
Also, DOT does not have the space it needs at the 25 ports of entry along the border, and it has not finished agreements with the border states on how federal and state inspection officials will do their work, GAO said.
And while the watchdog agency credited Mexico for putting regulations in place, it said the effectiveness of the rules is not yet clear.
DOT challenged the criticisms, saying it is "well advanced" in its plans to put the rules in place.
A spokesman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency in DOT in charge of border safety, said he expected the rules to be posted by early February. At that time, the agency also will release its operational plan, he said.
Agency chief Joseph M. Clapp has told HDT he expects the rules to be in place by mid-year.
Considering the scope and complexity of the safety system Congress has ordered for the Mexican border, mid-year will not be easy. For example, the border cannot be opened until FMCSA conducts a safety examination of each Mexican applicant — and half of all examinations must be done on-site in Mexico. Meanwhile, the agency has to hire and train additional staff, install weigh-in-motion systems at the busiest border crossings and work out an agreement with Mexico establishing requirements for hazmat driver licensing.
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