Cross-Border Trucking Between U.S. and Mexico

Extracted 17MAY2011 from http://logistics.about.com/b/2011/04/19/can-cross-border-trucking-really-happ...

The Department of Transportation (DoT) has announced a new proposal for a three year border trucking program which will allow trucks from Mexico to make deliveries in the US. Currently trucks crossing the border from Mexico or trucks from the US crossing into Mexico are limited to traveling within a 20 mile radius of the port of entry. This restriction is contrary to the original provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed in 1994, which gave carriers the right to pick up and deliver international freight into the neighboring country's Border States beginning in December 1995. This market access was scheduled to expand to the entire territory of the United States and Mexico by January 2000. However, the cross border trucking provisions have never been implemented due to political pressures on both sides of the border.

A pilot program was launched by the US government in September 2007, but ended when the funding was eliminated in March 2009. In retaliation, the Mexican government placed a $2.4 billion in tariffs on a range of U.S. goods. The latest DoT proposal requires that a carrier would be issued a provisional operating authority, and inspected by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) each time they enter the United States for at least 3 months. After a favorable review the carrier would receive a permanent authority after 18 months, pending an additional review. The carriers would need to carry an insurance policy underwritten by a US company, conform to environmental regulations, and drivers would be subject to screening from the Department of Homeland Security.