The first U.S. truck to drive deep into Mexico rolled into that country on Friday, and a Mexican trucking group said it had concerns about the cross-border program, the Associated Press reported.
The Department of Transportation said a truck owned by El Paso, Texas, company Stagecoach Cartage entered Mexico via the at Nogales, Nogales, Ariz., border crossing Friday, to deliver a load of plastic resin to Obregon, Mexico, about 270 miles from the border, AP reported.
The Senate last week voted to prevent Mexican trucks from gaining wider access to U.S. highways, just as DOT’s cross-border pilot program took effect. (Click here for previous coverage.)
Last week a truck owned by Mexican carrier Transportes Olympic crossed the border at Laredo, Texas, and arrived in North Carolina under the free trade pilot program.
Meanwhile, a group representing private Mexican trucking carriers said it had competitive concerns about the program, AP reported.
Tirso Martinez, the group’s president, said Mexico’s Transportation Department has not resolved traffic bottleneck issues for Mexican trucks trying to cross the border and lacks the personnel to enforce a provision prohibiting U.S. truckers from carrying domestic Mexican cargo, AP said.
Under the program, both countries’ governments committed to allowing trucks from about 100 companies from the other country to travel anywhere inside their borders, from a previously allowed border zone.
(Click here for previous coverage.)
