Truckers, distributors leery of NAFTA transportation deal

David Brown has operated a commercial truck out of Brownsville for nearly 15 years, always working in harmony with Mexican carriers.

But he’s worried that a cross-border trucking initiative will undermine American truckers operating on the border and deal a blow to local distribution centers.

“They’re going to be able to cut expenses, which will put thousands of drivers out of work,” Brown said. “This is going to kill the Valley.”

The cross-border initiative is still months away from implementation, but Brown joins the ranks of citizens on both sides of the border that have expressed outrage at a plan that would allow unfettered access to markets for thousands of Mexican and U.S. carriers alike.

U.S. detractors claim that Mexican trucks would threaten U.S. jobs while making roads less safe.

In Mexico, opponents of the pilot program say it will unfairly increase operation costs and open Mexico to U.S. companies that will take over the industry.

Melissa Mazzella DeLaney, director of communication for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is overseeing implementation of the initiative, said cross-border trucking will actually increase efficiency and lower costs for consumers.

Currently, Mexican trucks are permitted within a 20-25 mile commercial zone where they drop off their trailers and pickup loads for the return trip.

That is very inefficient, according to DeLaney.

“There are special interest groups that would do anything to stop it,” DeLaney said about the initiative. “At the end of the day this will give an added boost to our economy.”

Despite its detractors, DeLaney added, the program is mandated by the North American Free Trade Agreement.

As a provision of NAFTA the United States, Mexico and Canada agreed to open the border to trucking companies by 2000.

However, there has been on-going legal and political opposition, preventing the program from moving forward.

In February, the U.S. Department of Transportation revived the initiative, hinting that Mexican trucks might be granted access as early as April.

That was delayed until July, and now it appears the program is once again on hold until safety inspections are completed.

Fernando Sanchez, an employee of Valley Trucking in Brownsville, isn’t worried about cross-border trucking impacting his company.

“They’ve been talking about this for years, but I don’t think this will develop into anything constructive,” Sanchez said. “It’s just not going to work.”

Sanchez said industry workers in both countries have an unspoken agreement that “we don’t go into their backyard and they don’t come into ours.”

“It’d be like us going south. It doesn’t happen,” he said. “There are too many potential problems on both sides of the river.”

That hasn’t stopped 800 Mexican trucking companies from applying for operating permission in the United States.

The program will allow only 100 Mexican carriers direct access to U.S. markets. So far, 34 carriers have passed safety inspections, representing 157 trucks.

If that pace were to continue, as many as 500 Mexican trucks could be approved for cross-border trucking, roughly equaling the number of inspectors along the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. truckers aren’t the only group that expects to be affected by the pilot program.

Distributing companies on the border, which serve as drop off and pick up points, could also lose business if truckers no longer have to make stops.

Jose Ledezma is a facility manager for Intercontinental Forwarding in Brownsville, which receives between 35 and 45 trailers daily.

They unload pure synthetic rubber from Mexico, and send a variety of products back to Mexico.

“I don’t think it will put us out of business,” Ledezma said. “But, we could lose money.”

Ledezma’s concerns are well-founded, Brown said, at least where it’s Mexican business is concerned.

While Mexican companies have applied for permission to transport by the hundreds, their American counterparts have submitted less than 20 similar requests.

The risk is too high for drivers, according to Brown, and companies will be reluctant send their trucks into Mexico.

“In the real world American drivers aren’t going to be driving in Mexico,” Brown said. “I know I wouldn’t drive a commercial vehicle in Mexico.”

Many U.S. companies pay their drivers 35 cents per mile, plus unemployment benefits, health insurance and have 401k programs — too much to jeopardize, according to Brown.

“Let’s be realistic,” Brown said. “This is about economics.”