Mexico Border Finally Opens
OLIVER B. PATTON
WASHINGTON EDITOR
It took seven years, but the United States has raised the barrier that blocked cross-border trucking between the U.S. and Mexico.
On Nov. 27 President Bush lifted a long-standing moratorium on Mexican trucks receiving U.S. operating authority. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta immediately ordered the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to begin processing applications from Mexican truck operators for cross-border authority. Some 130 applications were pending at the time of Mineta's order.
Trucks are not moving yet. A legal challenge to the border opening is pending, and the U.S. and Mexico are still working out an agreement about cross-border inspections.
Still, Bush's move sets the stage for a new era of North American trade. Trucks carry more than 80% of the $246 billion trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Right now, that freight does not move very efficiently. Most cargo into and out of Mexico has to be interlined, using third-party drayage operators to shuttle trailers from one side of the border to the other.
This complex and inefficient system was targeted by the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, which stipulated that the border would open to border-state traffic in 1995 and to long-haul traffic in 2000.
Neither of those deadlines were met, due to fierce opposition from U.S. labor unions concerned about free trade and possible loss of jobs. While Bill Clinton was president, labor interests were able to keep the border closed by arguing that Mexican trucks are not safe, and that the U.S. had no way to ensure that they would be safe.
President Bush, early in his term, broke through the jam by insisting that the U.S. would implement the NAFTA provisions. It took two years of political maneuvering — and creation of a comprehensive new regulatory scheme to ensure Mexican trucks are safe — to bring the deal to a close.
And there may still be a delay. A group of labor and environmental interests, including the Teamsters union and the California Trucking Assn., are seeking a stay of the new FMCSA safety regulations on grounds that the influx of Mexican trucks would substantially increase diesel emissions. As HDT went to press, the matter was still pending.
Also unresolved is a diplomatic question concerning access of U.S. inspectors to Mexican trucking companies. The U.S. and Mexico still are negotiating the terms of an agreement that will allow DOT inspectors to visit Mexican companies for safety audits. The Mexican government has the U.S. memorandum but "In some ways their government is like ours," explained Joseph Clapp, retiring chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. "It takes time."
Observers agree that the opening of the border will not lead to a sudden flood of Mexican carriers. For one thing, each applicant must clear an initial review and then pass a safety exam before being issued a temporary certificate. For another, only half of the 130 applicants for long-haul service have cleared the initial review and are ready for the exam.
"It's going to be an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process," said Martin Rojas, director of cross-border operations for American Trucking Assns., which has long called for an open border. "In Mexico, a very large company has 150 trucks. There are about 2.6 million Class A trucks in the United States. We're talking about a speck in the trucking universe of the United States."
The New Regime
Under the new regime, Mexican carriers can obtain authority to deliver to destinations throughout the U.S., and take loads back to Mexico. They will not be permitted to haul freight between U.S. points, and they will have to meet U.S. safety standards. U.S. carriers have reciprocal rights in Mexico.
The initial safety exam will verify that the Mexican company meets U.S. standards for maintaining performance data and safety management, including drug and alcohol testing and hours of service. It also will verify insurance coverage, driver qualifications and operating history. It will include an interview with company management, and it will verify the company's maintenance system.
If the company passes the safety exam, it gets a conditional operating authority for 18 months. In that period, the agency will conduct a full-fledged compliance review before the company can get permanent authority.
Half of all safety exams of companies with more than four trucks must be conducted on site in Mexico. The same applies to the compliance reviews, with the stipulation that companies that did not get on-site safety exams must get on-site compliance reviews.
While they are operating under conditional authority, all long-haul Mexican trucks will have to display a valid Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance sticker. CVSA sets cooperative truck inspection standards in the U.S., Canada and now, Mexico. Mexican carriers will have to maintain the CVSA clearance for 36 months after they get permanent authority.
When a Mexican driver comes to cross the border, he must document his schedule for the prior seven days to prove he is adequately rested. In the U.S., he must abide by U.S. hours of service rules. Mexican drivers must have a Licencia Federal, the Mexican equivalent of a U.S. commercial driver's license.
Inspectors in both countries can access federal and state databases in the U.S. and Mexico to check a driver's license. They will verify the licenses of all long-haul drivers pulling hazmats or undergoing a full CVSA inspection. They will verify the licenses of half of all other long-haul drivers.
All trucks crossing the border will be weighed. Each Mexican carrier will get a DOT number. And Mexican trucks can only cross where and when a safety inspector is on duty.
To accomplish all this, FMCSA beefed up its border enforcement team. It has 252 people on line, including 144 safety inspectors, 67 auditors and 41 safety investigators. In addition, the agency has built or expanded inspection stations along the border and added parking areas for vehicles taken out of service for safety violations.
The drayage carriers that operate in the border commercial zones also have to apply for authority to continue in that business — 854 of them have done so, and 459 have been issued provisional certificates.
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