Mexican truck program deserves a chance, administration says

Mexican truck program deserves a chance, administration says U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez asked Congress on Wednesday to remove restrictive language in the Department of Transportation 2008 appropriations bill that would deny funds for a pilot program allowing Mexican long-haul motor carriers to deliver goods throughout the country.
   The border was supposed to be opened to cross-border trucking in 1995 under the North American Free Trade Agreement, but lawmakers expressing concern about the safety of Mexican trucks have required a laundry list of conditions for equipment and drivers be met before Mexican trucks could move beyond the 25-mile drop-off zone on the U.S. side of the border.
   Last month, the Department of Transportation said all the required safety enforcement checks were in place and launched the one-year program to monitor compliance of Mexican trucks. Up to 100 Mexican motor carriers will be allowed into the program with an estimated 500 to 600 trucks and Mexico will similarly allow U.S. carriers to run south of the border.
   But many members of Congress, and highway safety, labor and environmental groups argue that the Bush administration is rushing to appease Mexico without making sure Mexican carriers cannot cut corners on U.S. safety regulations. The House and Senate have both passed the conjoined DOT and Housing appropriations bills, which are waiting to go to a conference committee to resolve any differences. It is uncertain whether the language to kill the pilot program will survive the conference, but the amendments passed by wide margins in both Houses.
   “We want to demonstrate to Congress that tough safety standards and rigorous inspections work and that trucks participating in this program will have the same features, the same upkeep, and the same commitment to safety that any U.S. truck has,” Peters said. She skirted questions about whether President Bush would veto the bill if Congress tried to block the trucking program.
   The DOT is requiring Mexican trucks in the program to undergo a full-blown safety audit of equipment, procedures and records every 90 days at their premises. Congress has appropriated $500 million in recent years for new inspectors, border checkpoints, collecting drug test results and other efforts. The department recently announced that Mexican carriers will also be outfitted with satellite-based tracking devices to monitor their movements and make sure they don’t conduct any side business between U.S. locations.
   The Bush administration officials were joined at a press event in front of the DOT’s new headquarters by Mexican Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez, who said he made the rounds of Congress to “dispel myths” that Mexican trucks that drive in the United States are less safe than their U.S. counterparts. He pointed out that Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration statistics show out-of-service rates for Mexican and U.S. trucks are equivalent. And, he noted, Mexican commercial licenses are uniform because they are issued by the federal government, not individual states and they are electronically stored in the DOT’s database.
   Two tractors served as the backdrop for the photo opportunity, designed to demonstrate a typical Level 2 visual inspection that federal or state officer would conduct of Mexican trucks at the border. Troopers will also check driver credentials and whether the truck has the required decal proving it underwent a full inspection. One of the trucks belonged to Monterrey, Mexico-based Transportes Olympic, the first approved Mexican carrier to make a U.S. delivery as part of the demonstration program.
   “I ask Congress to listen to the facts about the safety of this program, not the fiction being spread by a few, and to continue giving U.S. truck drivers the chance to compete in Mexico and U.S. consumers the opportunity to save,” Peters said, suggesting protectionism was the motivating factor behind opposition to the program.
   A coalition of anti-trucking groups said in a news release that FMCSA can’t be counted on to ensure the safety of Mexican trucks when it can’t adequately enforce regulations on U.S. motor carriers under its jurisdiction.
   The system currently in place requires three trucks and drivers to shuttle goods across the border — a Mexican carrier to bring the load to the border, a local cross-border trucker and transfer to a U.S. long-haul carrier, and vice versa for U.S. exports. Gutierriez noted that two-way trade with Mexico has risen 307 percent since 1993 to $330 billion and is projected to double within the next 10 years, and trucks are responsible for moving 70 percent of that trade.
   “Finding an efficient way to transport goods across the southern border is critical,” he said.
   Five Mexican trucking companies have begun limited service in the United States and three U.S. carriers are operating in Mexico so far, according to FMCSA officials.