SALT LAKE CITY — In Florida, Miami-Dade detectives recovered $26 million in stolen cargo last year, but not all of the booty had originated in the area.

SALT LAKE CITY — Lawyers at American Trucking Associations’ Safety and Loss Prevention Management Council meeting March 23-25 reached agreement on one thing about disputes over liability in freight loss and damage claims cases: There is no sure, hard and fast route to victory.

SALT LAKE CITY — American Trucking Associations’ Safety and Loss Prevention Management Council’s spring meeting last week showcased the contributions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, other law enforcement agencies and motor carriers in the areas of claims and loss prevention, security and human resources.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s proposed budget, for the fiscal year that starts in October, contains large allocations to beef up operations along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Customs Service said it is beefing up its cargo inspection technology capabilities by spending $15.2 million for 16 additional mobile gamma-ray systems to be deployed mostly along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Officials from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and U.S. Department of Transportation had a “good meeting” with their Mexican counterparts March 22 in Mexico City, and laid plans to open the border to Mexican trucks by the end of 2001.

Tire manufacturers are pushing for a simplified way to calculate the federal excise taxes due on truck tires without causing a loss to the U.S. Treasury.

A U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration official, responding to a report from a Latin American newswire service, told Transport Topics that the United States is not yet ready to open the border to Mexican trucks.

Canacar, probably the most influential Mexican trucking association, wants the United States to give Mexican truckers a fair shake, said spokesman Oscar Moreno.

Owners of truck stops see the sale of diesel fuel at duty-free shops that line the borders of the United States as one of the biggest threats to their businesses.