Congress Earmarks Millions for Customs to Get X-Ray Machines

Truckers hope the $54 million that the U.S. Customs Service will get next year for drug interdiction technology will also lead to fewer trucking delays on the Mexican border.

The money, part of the huge omnibus appropriations bill recently signed by President Clinton, will buy narcotics detection technology.

Some worry, however, that the funding isn’t enough to allow customs to speed up truck traffic at the busiest border crossings.

Much of the money will go toward the purchase of X-ray equipment that can quickly scan truck cargo for illegal drugs, according to customs spokeswoman Patricia Coss. Included will be systems that X-ray whole trucks at once and the even more powerful gamma-ray machines. Also in the works are X-ray systems strong enough to probe ship containers and rail cars.

All this may be good news for truckers. Officials said the technology enables customs agents to inspect the internal structures of trucks and trailers, as well as cargo, without drilling into the trailers or unloading the cargo. That should save time and money, according to customs.

“We’re talking about technology to detect drug smugglers,” said Ms. Coss. “But the corollary is that we also want to expedite the vast majority of commercial shipments that are law abiding.”

Less intrusive inspection is definitely welcome, said Les Findeisen, director of information of the Texas Motor Transport Assn.

“The first thing that comes to my mind is it will mean less drilling, and that’s an expense that to my knowledge the government doesn’t kick back in to repair.”

Others, like Tom Wade, president of the Laredo Transportation Assn. in Texas, have their doubts that the new technology will help much. Mr. Wade says customs has always promised that truckers’ cooperation will lead to faster service, but it hasn’t happened.

“We don’t ever see the speeding up of commerce at the border that we keep getting told about,” he said. “Now they’ve got these X-ray machines, but does that mean they’re going to stop unloading trucks? I doubt it. Most likely they’ll continue to unload trucks and X-ray them, too.”

The new equipment will lead to faster inspections but not more of them — and not anytime soon, said Maria Reba, customs director at Laredo, the busiest truck crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The technology will help. But the problem with the technology is you have to put out contracts, and then it takes a while for the equipment to be built. So really we won’t be seeing the benefits of this for two years,” she said.

What Ms. Reba said she really needs is the manpower to staff the X-ray machines.

Right now, we just don’t have enough people to provide the service the community deserves,” she said.