By Ryan Eigenbrode
A North American Free Trade Agreement arbitration panel recently increased the likelihood that Mexican trucks will be driving on Arizona highways by giving the go-ahead to eventually open the United States border to non-U.S. carriers.
The panel decided in February that U.S. roads must be opened to Mexican trucks by the provisions set forth in NAFTA. After the panel's decision, the Bush administration said it would outline new regulations, leading to a proposed border opening Jan. 1.
The plan still has several kinks to work out, but it could become reality in the next year. Among other problems, Mexican and American drivers are unfamiliar with roads and services in each other's country.
The proposal's doubters also say infrastructure problems in Mexico, such as poor road conditions and less than adequate services, could hamper the proposal.
In the past, Mexican trucks have only been allowed to enter the United States through the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, or border crossings in other states, only to drop off their cargo at warehouses within a 12-kilometer radius of the border.
However, the change would allow Mexican trucks to pass through the border and deliver their cargo anywhere in the United States.
Much of the cargo shipped from Mexico is produce. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mexican-grown fruits and vegetables make up almost 20 percent of produce consumed in the United States each year. That produce is shipped from farms in Mexico, many as close to the border as Hermosillo, but must be unloaded from Mexican trucks as soon as it crosses the border.
There, buyers often check the produce for quality before it is loaded onto a U.S.-based truck and shipped to a distribution warehouse elsewhere in the country.
Under the plan, American truckers will also be able to drive into Mexico to deliver their shipments.
Mexican trucks would also have the option of driving into the United States and loading the cargo onto railroad cars, which could carry the produce or other cargo to the destination.
Because produce is damaged each time it is handled, buyers say it would be ideal to allow the produce to be loaded onto trucks and shipped directly to the distribution warehouses.
The Tucson-based National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade has been one of the leading supporters of the proposal.
"You will have a number of shipments that will not change
trucks, maybe even drivers," said David Gantz, the center's
associate director and a University of Arizona law professor.
However, Gantz said there are still many obstacles to clear before
the proposal becomes a reality.
"You cannot haul cargo into the United States from Mexico, Canada, anywhere without proper liability insurance," Gantz said. "The U.S. government is going to have to find ways to make sure that these things are taken care of.
"It may turn out that the insurance industry is going to have more of an impact than anyone on this decision."
Ultimately, the decision to open the border to the trucking industry could increase the number of warehouses and trucking facilities in the Tucson area. However, Gantz said the final impact will not be known for some time.
"It is hard to say the amount of business that this will bring to Tucson," he said. "It may make it more efficient to have the warehousing in Tucson and Phoenix, but I would think that most companies will want to take the shipments to their final destinations.
"When this happens, I think that you are going to see
more joint ventures between U.S. and Mexican companies where they
would be switching trucks or drivers at the border."
Members of the trucking industry in the United States do not believe
there will be increased action.
"Unless there are going to be major improvements on both sides, I don't see a lot of traffic coming from either side of the border," said Bill Graney, owner of Delta Brokerage, a truck brokerage in Rio Rico.
"The major reason will be that American truck drivers are just not familiar with the infrastructure in Mexico, and Mexican truck drivers will be the same way up here. If a Mexican truck goes into Los Angeles, they are going to be in unfamiliar territory, dealing with new people."
Graney said American drivers are unsure about driving into Mexico because of a lack of adequate support for trucks in the country.
He said Mexican roads are often in disrepair and there are not truck stops at drivers can eat and rest at.
"There is plenty of parking at the service stations down there, which I don't think American drivers realize, but that is all there is," Graney said. "There are no hotels or motels right at the service stations where the drivers can stay."
Another problem facing truckers in Mexico is the lack of a communication system to help stranded trucks.
"They do not have a com-check system down there," he said. "Here, if one of my drivers breaks down, he can call me, and I give him a code that he can take to a truck stop to have his truck repaired and purchase gas, whatever he needs. In Mexico, they just don't have that option."
Driving "deadhead" loads, or empty trucks, one way after making deliveries would also hamper the trucking industry.
"You would have deadheads going both ways," Graney said. "There is just not enough money in the trucking industry to handle that."
Graney said the current system is adequate and has far fewer problems for drivers and truck owners. He said the program would not immediately affect his brokerage business, which leases trucks to companies to haul their goods from Nogales to other points in the United States.
"You would have to solve all of those problems before it would affect me," Graney said. "I used to get calls from corporations like Wal-mart, when they were starting up stores in Sonora (Mexico), asking me if I could take trucks down there, which at the time, I could not.
"I don't get those calls anymore because companies like that are doing what the growers are doing, bringing their cargo to Nogales, unloading in warehouses and having Mexican trucks haul it into Mexico."
Graney said he thinks that unless the United States and Mexican governments take steps to improve the infrastructure, the proposal will go unused.
"I don't see the government doing that. There is going to have to be someone with a lot of money, or someone who can benefit from putting the money into it before it happens. It is going to sit there and be available, but there will be very few people using it."
Other truckers agreed with Graney, saying the infrastructure makes it impractical to drive into Mexico.
"The current system works very well in my opinion," Houston-based trucker Paul Ashland said at the Triple-T Truck Stop outside Tucson. "Truckers know the routes they drive in the U.S., but there is the element of the unknown in Mexico.
"I wouldn't worry about the safety factor, but there are just not the resources for truckers down there."
The arbitration panel's blessing in February of the idea was
merely one step in the process that still has several hurdles
to clear.
At least 13 governmental agencies on both sides of the border
U.S. Customs, Border Patrol, and Mexican authorities, among
others can still stop trucks before or after they cross
the border. Produce buyers are not likely to want shipments to
travel all the way to the distribution centers before they are
inspected.
The two countries' governments must still work out problems with drug trafficking control and other customs issues before the plan is implemented.
Opponents to the proposal have said that opening U.S. highways to Mexican roads could create more safety and environmental problems than already exist in Southern Arizona.
Graney said he thinks the age of many Mexican trucks could
cause them to have problems meeting the standards.
"Although you are beginning to see more, newer trucks come up from Mexico, for the most part, the trucks are fairly old," he said. "There is going to have to be a lot of money put into them (up to standards)."