Borderlands is a weekly update on what’s going on in the realm of cross-border trucking and trade between the United States and Mexico. This week: Vaccine mandate has varying effects on Mexico cross-border shipping; Texas toll road truck traffic is up 57 percent year over year; a Chinese ATV manufacturer will build a $152 million plant in Mexico, and narcotics seizures are up along the Texas-Mexico border.
The vaccine mandate has a variety of effects on cross-border transportation in Mexico.
According to Gerardo Alanis Barrios, CEO of Cold Chain Solutions in Laredo, Texas, new restrictions prohibiting unvaccinated truckers from crossing the US-Mexico border have stressed an already tight driver market.
On January 22, the United States began requiring COVID-19 vaccines for all non-U.S. citizens entering the country through land ports of entry, particularly along the Canadian and Mexican borders.
“For the better part of two years, drayage capacity has been stretched.” “The vaccine obligation has weakened it even worse,” Barrios told FreightWaves.
Barrios and other members of his family-run an unofficial group of businesses in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, known as Grupo Alanis. Transportation, cold storage, drayage, customs, and logistics activities are among the businesses represented.
Mexican vehicles, known as drayage trucks, are permitted to travel limited distances northern into the United States (usually a 25-mile zone) to drop off cargo. Hundreds of enterprises transport supplies and finished goods back and forth across the border every day in the drayage trucking industry along the US-Mexico border.
“Approximately 4% of our drivers in our fleet have refused to be vaccinated,” Alanis Barrios stated. “Some claim they are unable to obtain it due to medical conditions, while others simply do not want unknown drugs in their bodies.” To support their decision, a handful has gone so far as to apply for new employment inside the corporation.”
According to Luis Garca, Nuvocargo’s head of carrier relations, the company witnessed a few northbound shipments in Mexico that were delayed traveling to the United States after the immunization restrictions went into effect.
based in New York Nuvocargo is a digital logistics platform that facilitates cross-border trade between the United States and Mexico. Garca collaborates with Mexican carriers to discover capacity solutions for cross-border goods.
“We’ve witnessed a few situations; one of our carriers had to replace drivers at the last minute after receiving findings from an internal policy of testing that they conducted,” Garca explained. “As a result, one of our pickups took two hours longer than anticipated.”
Cross-border crossings, according to Garca, have also been hampered by drivers who test positive for COVID-19 and take sick leave.
“They have indicated that the majority of their drivers have accepted immunizations.” “What they’re dealing with is sick leaves from their driver base, and they’re handicapped with ability to carry the cargoes, and it’s backlogging capacity,” Garca explained.
According to Armando Taboada, assistant director of field operations for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the Laredo Field Office, 111 noncompliant unvaccinated drivers were found in the first three days after the restrictions went into force.
CBP’s Laredo field office is in charge of eight ports of entry along the Texas-Mexico border: Laredo, Brownsville, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Hidalgo, Rio Grande City, Progresso, and Roma.
“The first few days, we were capturing the numbers to give us an indication,” Taboada explained. “I believe the carriers got the word that immunization requirements were being implemented for the most part.”
According to Taboada, all non-compliant drivers returned to Mexico. Noncompliant drivers were returned with the tractor-trailer if they had empty trucks. Loaded cargoes containing merchandise were processed for import into the United States, regardless of whether drivers were vaccinated.
“Noncompliant drivers with loaded shipments/trailers were temporarily detained in cargo import facilities,” Taboada explained. “The non-compliant driver was returned to Mexico, but the tractor/trailer with the loaded shipment was allowed to continue with a replacement vaccinated, compliant driver, to keep the trade flowing.” This was done at all of our entry points.”
Many in the freight business feared that the vaccine mandate would result in longer border wait times and higher prices.
Truck traffic on Texas toll roads has increased by 57% year on year.
According to the business that runs Texas State Highway 130, tractor-trailer traffic on the public-private highway in the Lone Star State would climb 57 percent year over year to 2.6 million trucks in 2021.
The year-over-year surge was fuelled by a combination of a recovering economy, population expansion, and greater construction along the corridor, according to officials at SH 130 Concession Co., which operates and maintains the part of the state-owned highway.
“The SH 130 corridor has swiftly developed to become the core of development in central Texas, attracting more local heavy truck and passenger traffic,” SH 130 Concession Co. CEO Doug Wilson said in a statement.
State Highway 130 traverses central Texas for 91 kilometers. SH 130 Concession runs a private toll road along a 41-mile stretch of highway from just southeast of Austin to Seguin, a hamlet about 30 miles east of San Antonio.
“With Tesla recently building a manufacturing site on the route and a big new Samsung facility on the horizon, we expect these development and traffic patterns to continue along this corridor,” Wilson added.
In 2021, passenger car traffic on the SH 130 toll road increased by 64% year on year to 9.8 million motorists. Passenger and tractor-trailer traffic surged by a combined 64% year over year, setting a new high for the toll road.
Despite the increase, the number of incidents on SH 130 has reduced by 13% to 34 accidents per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the lowest level since 2018.
A Chinese ATV manufacturer will invest $152 million in a factory in northern Mexico.
Hisun Motors Corp. recently announced plans to construct a $152 million facility in Saltillo, Mexico.
The factory, which will cover 1.5 million square feet, will employ 1,500 people. Hisun is an all-terrain and utility vehicle manufacturer.
It is expected to begin operations in May, with the production of 5,000 automobiles for export throughout the North American market. According to officials, the factory might generate up to 50,000 units per year by 2024.
Hisun was created in 1988 and is headquartered in Chongqing, China. The company’s North American headquarters are located in McKinney, Texas.
Authorities report an increase in drug seizures along the Texas-Mexico border.
During the fiscal year 2021, more than $780 million in illegal narcotics were seized at eight ports of entry in South Texas, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Laredo.
This marks a 4% decrease from the fiscal year 2020 when CBP’s Laredo field operations captured $821 million in illegal substances. The fiscal year of CBP extends from October 1 to September 30.
Brownsville, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo, Hidalgo, Rio Grande City, Progresso, and Roma are among the ports of entry served by CBP’s Laredo field operations.
In the fiscal year 2021, fentanyl seizures increased 1,066 percent year on year, while cocaine seizures increased 98 percent.
“Despite much-reduced traffic as a result of travel limitations enforced for public health concerns as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, the drug and contraband threat remained the same,” Randy J. Howe, CBP’s director of field operations in Laredo, said in a statement. “Our considerable increases in fentanyl and cocaine seizures highlight the lethal nature of the contraband we confront.”
During the most recent fiscal period, CBP also seized 41,713 pounds of marijuana, 1,215 pounds of heroin, $10.4 million in undeclared currency, 463 weapons, and 84,863 rounds of ammunition.
