Mexico Sends 1st Long-Haul Trucks to US; Deliveries to New York and South Carolina...

[Purveyor]

(09-09) 15:02 PDT MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) --

Two Mexican tractor-trailers have delivered payloads in New York and South Carolina, becoming the first trucks to operate deep in the United States under a long-delayed, NAFTA-mandated program criticized on both sides of the border.

The trucks, operated by Transportes Olympic, a company based outside the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, crossed into the United States carrying steel construction materials and will haul similar products from Arkansas and Alabama back across the border, Mexican Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez said Sunday.

Since 1982, Mexican trucks have been allowed to operate in the United States only within a 25-mile zone along the border, where they transfer loads to U.S. vehicles for transport elsewhere in the country.

Unrestricted access was supposed to begin in 1995, but the Clinton administration refused to open the border to Mexican trucks out of concern that they might be unsafe. A NAFTA arbitration panel overruled the U.S. in 2001, but lawsuits and lengthy negotiations with the Mexican government led to even more delays.

On Thursday, the U.S. Transportation Department granted permission to Transportes Olympic to haul cargo anywhere in the United States as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In turn, Mexico granted authority to Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution Inc. of El Paso, Texas, to travel throughout Mexico.

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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/09/09/international/i150257D17.DTL