DOT Clears 23 Mexican Carriers For Cross-Border Pilot Project
By Sean McNally, Senior Reporter
This story appears in the April 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has audited 26 Mexican carriers applying to participate in a proposed longhaul cross-border trucking pilot project, as the department gets closer to opening the border, with nearly 90% meeting the standards set out by the U.S. government, a DOT spokesman said.
Of the 26 carriers audited, 23 passed, meaning they had satisfied U.S. standards for a number of regulations including hours-of-service compliance, maintenance and drug and alcohol testing.
Three of the carriers audited by U.S. officials in Mexico did not meet those standards.
DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “has continued to conduct on-site safety audits since Secretary Peters’ announcement of the program in Mexico Feb. 22,” Ian Grossman, a spokesman for DOT, told Transport Topics.
The pilot program also would allow up to 100 U.S. fleets to deliver into Mexico. Currently, cross-border freight is transferred to a domestic carrier in each country, but the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement requires opening the border to trucking.
The first step of the program Peters announced was a series of audits by U.S. inspectors of fleets in Mexico. Peters said that process would take about 60 days.
After those audits are completed, DOT will begin to issue operating authority to up to 100 carriers that meet its safety standards.
“We are currently on schedule to issue authority to the first company at the end of April [or] early May, just as Secretary Peters indicated when we announced the program in February,” Grossman said.
Though DOT has conducted only 26 audits, Grossman said, the agency “plan[s] to conduct as many pre-authority safety audits as needed until we reach the 100 carriers who will participate in the demonstration program.”
Since it was announced, the DOT plan has been under fire in Congress, as well as from several labor, safety and trucking groups.
A provision that would delay the pilot program was included as an amendment to a Senate bill funding military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate has passed the bill, but differences with similar legislation in the House have yet to be resolved, and President Bush has threatened to veto the war-funding bill.
Measures introduced in the House include one with language similar to the Senate provision that has the backing of the top two Democrats on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Grossman said that, despite the congressional opposition, DOT planned to continue the pilot program.
“We will continue to work with members of Congress to address their concerns while we move forward with the demo program,” he said.
