U.S. almost ready to consider loosening trucking curbs-Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

U.S. almost ready to consider loosening trucking curbs-Mexico
MEXICO CITY Sun Jan 11, 2015 2:45pm EST


Jan 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Transportation will soon be ready to consider lifting restrictions on Mexican trucking firms seeking to operate throughout the United States, Mexico's Communications and Transport Ministry said on Sunday.

Mexico and the United States have been locked in a long-running dispute over granting Mexican truckers unlimited access to the United States, and a bilateral accord in 2011 set in motion a pilot program to phase out existing restrictions.

Mexican transport associations say U.S. curbs mean most truckers cannot deliver goods throughout the United States and must unload their cargo in border regions, putting them at a disadvantage to U.S. competitors who have access to Mexico.

U.S. curbs have persisted in spite of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States, which in theory allows Mexico's truckers to engage in long-haul operations inside the United States.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/11/mexico-usa-transport-idUSL1N0UQ0J020150111?rpc=401

[JDPriestly]

1. That is going to hurt us in California. I do not want Mexican trucks on our streets.

Mexico does not have our safety standards.

Another reason to oppose "free" trade.

We impose tough emission standards on all vehicles that are registered in California. That is not a meaningless rule. We have particular problems with our air due in part to our geography. We have mountain ranges that kind of trap bad air. You should see the smog that rings the mountain ranges around Los Angeles in the evenings. It's kind of brown at times. The smog is much better now than it was before we imposed emission standards.

This is a very good argument against "free" trade. Horrors. I do not like this. Nothing against Mexico ror its people, but this will be a big blow to our environment. And it will cost a lot of jobs as Mexican firms bring their cheap drivers and labor into the US through this means. I oppose this.

[SoapBox]

2. +100

[Andy823]

4. I agree

They should not be allowed to drive in the USA unless they meet the same standards that drives here have to meet, no exceptions should be made.

[Sunlei]

3. Besides the safety issues, will this change hurt American drivers income? I think private truck owne

private truck owners wait near the border businesses (the border factories build most of Americans consumer goods) and American truckers pull those trailers to America consumer businesses and to our ports.

Many products made in mexico are trucked to American ports as American exports.

If one looks on google street view at the border towns, look at the main roads and there are hundreds of Am. marked truck cabs parked around all the large border factories, waiting to hook-up.

[Xithras]

16. Trucking, as a career, is probably in its last decades anyway.

At this point, every major truck manufacturer has at least began researching self driving trucks, and several major truck manufacturers, including Peterbilt and Mercedes, have already demonstrated FULLY FUNCTIONAL self driving trucks. Nearly all major US trucking firms have made statements that they have some interest in the technology. While we're still a decade away from seeing them on our actual roadways in any real numbers, their impact will be huge when they do show up. They'll deliver faster (no rest breaks needed), cheaper (no drivers to pay), and safer than human drivers. Human operated trucks will simply be priced out of existence.

I read a theory about a year ago stating that the push to allow Mexican drivers into the country may be indirectly related to this. "Automated trucks get Mexican drivers off our roads!" is an easier sell to the American public. If you let imported labor undermine and destroy American participation in that market, the push to later eliminate those jobs entirely becomes a LOT easier. Between those who are apathetic toward the imported jobless, and those who would have a bit of shadenfreud about them losing their jobs after they stole them from Americans, many of the public hurdles will be removed. Mexican truckers help to solve the "Technology vs. American Jobs" aspect of the debate.

[Sunlei]

17. perhaps, but today there are thousands of USA truck owners who go to mexicos borders for

the work.

Many of our American Corps. moved to the border areas for the $7 a day Mexican workers. Products are sold to American consumers or for export through American ports.

American truckers trailer the products back into the USA and to the American ports. That is todays Border rule and regulations for truck shipments.

I think the Border squatting Corps will cut out thousands of USA trucker jobs because they want to use cheap foreign labor, to move their products.

Corps should not be allowed to change this border regulation. Truckers should not wait until their jobs are gone.

[jmowreader]

5. There are three reasons for Mexican truckers to continue the status quo

Forget the idea that Mexican truckers have old, chewed-up trucks; some do but many have late-model tractors and trailers.

Mexico has higher freight rates than the US does.
Mexico has subsidized diesel prices.
And non-US truckers are not allowed to carry freight between two US terminals.

The third is the big one. If I was driving and my company had a load going from Laredo to St. Louis and a load going from Kansas City to Laredo, they could find me a load from St. Louis to Kansas City to save me a few hundred miles of deadhead haul. Mexicans don't have that option - nor do Canadians. If they can't find a backhaul in STL, they have to deadhead to KC. Economically and ecologically speaking, the trucking industry is better served by Mexicans hauling to the border and Americans hauling away from it.

[candelista]

10. +1

[jmowreader]

11. No, the freight rates are higher in Mexico than they are in the US

Truckers running in Mexico receive more money per mile than truckers running in the US do. (Yes, I know they run in the metric system below the border...)

IIRC during the "pilot program" we're currently in, less than 10 Mexican trucking companies signed up and they hauled very few loads into the US. At the same time, every other trucking company in Mexico was working its ass off hauling freight into Laredo, El Paso, Nogales and San Ysidro.

You're thinking, what about Canadian drivers? Here we have the opposite problem: it is a shitload cheaper to run in the US than it is in Canada. In British Columbia, Flying J stations are charging $3.94 per gallon for diesel if you translate Canadian dollars to US. Fuel in Oregon at the same chain, it's three bucks a gallon.

I'm not a trucking company executive, but if I was I would stick with the old system - swap trailers in Laredo.

[candelista]

12. It seems like the cheapest thing overall would be....

...to let US truckers do it all, from Mexico to Chicago or LA and back. No cost for unloading and reloading, and no premium for Mexican truckers.

[jmowreader]

13. US drivers don't want to run in Mexico

The laws down there are, to put it mildly, draconian: if you get in a traffic accident - always possible down there - they put you in jail during the investigation, and Mexican investigators are leisurely when it comes to working on cases involving Americans. You also need to run special, and not-cheap, Mexican insurance.

The current system has no cost for unloading and reloading because they swap full trailers at the border. This is a common trucking practice that works well...the stalwart independent trucker who owns one tractor and one trailer can't do it, but the truly independent trucker is a dying breed - a lot of guys own tractors but contract to trucking lines because it takes a lot of risk out of the business.

[seabeckind]

6. And what happens when a shipping port is opened

in Mexico or countries south?

What happens to our port handling? I guess we can kiss that goodbye.

Walmart...china to their warehouse...untouched by an American.

[jmowreader]

14. It will compete with the 41 ports that are already in Mexico

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_seaports_in_Mexico

[seabeckind]

18. And then after the trucks are loaded

they won't have to do anything to get that container to the warehouse.

I do believe you missed the point.

[jmowreader]

20. I believe you missed mine

There are already cargo ports in Mexico. I found an interesting article on the Port of Lazaro Cardenas' expansion:

http://gcaptain.com/mexicos-900-million-mega-container/

They are talking about expanding a port with annual capacity of 150,000 "twenty-foot equivalent units" or TEUs (all freight calculations revolve around the 20-foot standard-cube container) to a 2.2 million TEU port. By comparison, Port of Los Angeles can take 4 million TEU, Port of Long Beach is about the same, the ports south of New York City are even bigger...my best guess is, since Maersk is bankrolling the expansion at Lazaro Cardenas, they're trying to get a port in the Americas that's big enough to unload their new Triple-E Class ships.

[daleo]

7. Do U.S. Truckers do a lot of hauling inside Mexico?

Considering the state of law and order there, that would seem to be pretty dangerous.

[Massacure]

8. I used to work for a transportation company

I cannot speak to other companies, but the one I worked for did not haul in Mexico. We had drop lots in Mexico, but none of them were far from the border. It was always a third party that hauled the containers from our drop lot to the final destination. I wasn't close enough to the business to know if we generally hired the third party or if the customer did.

[ripcord]

9. California has very strict rules pertaining to trucks

both safety and environmentally, the Mexican trucks drivers should also have the medical certificates U.S. drivers are required to have.

[pampango]

15. An audit of the pilot program showed trucks and drivers from approved Mexican trucking companies:

The audit also confirmed FMCSA’s analysis: Pilot program participant carriers, as well as Mexico-domiciled and Mexican-owned carriers with existing authority to operate in the U.S., performed no worse than U.S. and Canadian motor carriers. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the data proved that Mexican carriers “demonstrate a level of safety at least as high as their American and Canadian counterparts.”



The policy change ends a 20-year political dispute over the NAFTA trucking provision, and is expected to result in the permanent termination of more than $2 billion in annual retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

Companies from Mexico that apply for long-haul operating authority will be required to pass a Pre-Authorization Safety Audit to confirm they have adequate safety management programs in place, including systems for monitoring hours of service and to conduct drug testing using an HHS-certified lab. Additionally, all drivers must possess a valid U.S. CDL or a Mexican Licencia Federal de Conductor, and must meet the agency’s English language proficiency requirements.

As with Canadian companies that are granted U.S. operating authority, carriers and drivers from Mexico are required to comply with all laws and regulations, including regular border and random roadside inspections. Once the motor carrier is approved, their vehicles will be required to undergo a 37-point North American Standard Level 1 inspection every 90 days for at least four years.

American trucking companies have been able to apply and operate long-haul in Mexico through NAFTA since 2007. Currently, five U.S. companies use this authority to transport international goods into Mexico, according to DOT.

http://fleetowner.com/fleet-management/mexico-gets-green-light-dot-opening-door-cross-border-trucking

[Omaha Steve]

19. I used to drive a local straight fuel truck with 3,500 gallons of gas etc

Our equipment was old and not well maintained. We crossed the safety line regularly. I can think of several times the public was at risk as well as our own workers.

Trucks already allowed into the trade zone are below US standards. Way below. Why do we want to let fleets of these type of trucks in the entire USA?

The DOT in NE is a joke. Iowa has good enforcement. It doesn't take long to connect the dots and see the crap trucks will go through NE. if they are north bound. Oh joy.