Cross-border truck pilot program draws conflicting testimony

Cross-border truck pilot program draws conflicting testimony The U.S. Chamber of Congress is championing a recently inaugurated federal pilot project allowing trucks to operate across the U.S.-Mexico border. However a spokesman for independent trucking owner-operators railed against it before a Senate committee Thursday.
   The Chamber urged the Senate to uphold the project, introduced by U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters on Feb. 22, as an important step to enhance competitiveness, reduce pollution and promote economic growth. The comments came in written testimony Thursday to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
   However, Charlie Parfrey, president and chief operating officer of Parfrey Trucking Brokerage, testified that the program has very little positive impact to offer U.S. citizens.
   Parfrey, speaking before the Senate committee on behalf of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), raised several concerns about the program, most notably safety, security, driver verification, drug and alcohol testing, hours of service, insurance and inspections.
   “It is simply abhorrent to think that our government would allow Mexican trucks full access to U.S. highways before all safety, economic and homeland security concerns are completely and appropriately addressed,” added Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA.
   Duane DeBruyne of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said it was against department policy to respond to comments similar to the ones made by the OOIDA. However, he noted that the United States has been working on this plan for quite some time and that an immense amount of preparation has been put into this one-year trial program.
   The program was supposed to be implemented by 2000 and is a part of a 1993 NAFTA agreement. It allows for a select group of 100 Mexican trucking companies to transport goods within the U.S., and 100 U.S. operators can do the same in Mexico. There are provisions, however, as they will only be allowed to make international pick-ups and deliveries. Mexican trucks will not be allowed to transport goods from one U.S. city to another, nor will they be allowed to haul hazardous materials or passengers.
   Prior to this program, Mexican and U.S. trucks were limited to 20-mile zones within the border, a practice that Secretary Peters said, “wastes precious time, energy, and money.”
   U.S. inspectors are in Mexico conducting audits of Mexican operators. The U.S. is looking to make the group of 100 Mexican carriers as diverse as possible, taking into account geography, size and types of carriers. According to the FMCSA, trucks from both countries should be rolling into each other's commercial zones in 30 to 45 days.
   According to the Chamber, the current cross-border dispute over implementing North America Free Trade Agreement regulations has threatened the country's relationship with Mexico. The current system, the Chamber said, is 'archaic and convoluted.' A shipment traveling between the two countries requires at least three trucks and three drivers — a U.S. carrier, a Mexican carrier, and an intermediary between the two.
   'The fraught logistics of the existing system often compel trucks to return home with empty trailers or with no trailer at all,' the Chamber letter said. 'Our border infrastructure is seriously overburdened, and the entire system is quickly becoming a real brake on further growth in trade.'
   Under NAFTA trade with Mexico has nearly quadrupled, from $81 billion in 1993 to $332 billion in 2006, the Chamber said. Trucking is vital to this trade partnership because it moves more than 80 percent of the value of U.S. trade with Mexico.