Border Delays Costly to Trucking Industry

Whether traveling into the Great White North or crossing the Rio Grande, trucking companies have suffered delays since the terrorist attacks on the United States that only an airline could understand.

While there is no question about the reason for the delays — tightened security measures — frustration has become an all-too-common result for both truck drivers and trucking companies.

Some trucks have reported waiting times in excess of 15 hours when crossing the Canadian border into the United States. Weigh station checks that were once 15 minutes now take about an hour at both the Canada and Mexico borders. And though carriers have built those delays into their scheduled delivery times, states are having to keep truck weigh stations open later so they can inspect more vehicles.

Manuel Sotelo, president of the Ciudad Ju?rez Trucking Association, said Mexican trucking companies were losing as much as $100,000 a day due to delays since Sept. 11.

The U.S. shares 2,000 miles of border with Mexico, of which 1,254 miles are along the Texas border. In Texas, the 1999 value of U.S. trade to and from Mexico by truck through Texas ports exceeded $106 billion — $53.6 billion in imports and $52.6 billion in exports.

According to the U.S. Customs Service, more than 4 million trucks annually cross the border from Mexico into the United States. Eighty percent of the cross-border cargo moves by trucks.

There are about 13 million truck crossings annually at U.S.-Canada borders, and more than 60 percent of the trade that moves between those countries is carried by truck.

The gridlocks have prompted government factions from both borders to research what can be done to keep security inspections up to par while maintaining a steady flow of commerce.

David Humphrey, a spokesman for Arkansas Best Corp., said officials at the Fort Smith company have told him delays have become less frequent and less severe since the weeks following the attacks on Sept. 11.

Part of this is due to the truckers, many of whom have taken it upon themselves to help alleviate some of the traffic.

“[The drivers] have worked through a lot of the issues,” Humphrey said. “Some carriers have adjusted what they had been doing, such as instead of all of them hitting the borders between 8 [a.m.] and 5 [p.m.], they are trying to time it so they take their loads through around midnight. That keeps a more even flow. It’s a natural way to improve the situation.”

ABF Freight System Inc., the largest subsidiary of Arkansas Best, has a partner in Mexico with Multi-Pack, a company that is often referred to as the UPS of Mexico. But ABF still must exchange its freight at the border with Multi-Pack. With few exceptions, ABF’s equipment doesn’t venture very far into Mexico.

There are 28 border crossing points on the Mexican border, but only seven are considered “major.” Texas has 63 percent of the border mileage and 57 percent of the entry points, and it handles 66 percent of transborder traffic. California handles 24 percent and Arizona 10 percent.

Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale has production plants in Mexico, and IBP Inc., which Tyson purchased in September, has a feed lot in Canada.

“There’s not a lot of traffic on the borders on the chicken side of the business,” Tyson spokesman Ed Nicholson said. “There is some on the fresh meat side.”

Nicholson said the delays are often longer on the Mexican border because the crossings are bridges.

“If a delay were to occur on a bridge it would be much more disruptive,” he said.