U.S., Mexico launch second cargo pre-inspection program

U.S. Customs officers stationed on the Mexican side of the border near San Diego, Calif. will check agriculture products moving by truck under a new cargo pre-inspection pilot program.    U.S. and Mexican Customs officials last week inaugurated a cargo pre-inspection pilot program in Tijuana, Mexico. Under the program, high-volume, low-risk agriculture products will be inspected prior to crossing the border at the U.S. checkpoint in Otay Mesa, outside San Diego. 
   Cargo pre-inspection is designed to speed up the flow of trade by inspecting shipments only once by both customs authorities in the exporting country.
   The Otay Mesa pilot is one of three planned pre-inspection programs on the southern border. One is already in place with Mexican Customs officials stationed at the Laredo International Airport in Texas. A third pilot program at San Jeronimo, Chihuahua, Mexico, is planned to start in mid-2016.
   American Shipper Magazine previewed the pre-inspection programs, and provided an update on the U.S.-Canada pre-inspection pilots, in the January feature article, “Collaboration on the Southern Border.”