Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/455137
Logbook 18 | Overdrive | February 2015 Mexican motor carriers soon will be able to apply for authority to operate beyond the U.S.-Mexico commercial border zone, the Federal Motor Car- rier Safety Administration announced Jan. 9. The agency's move comes less than three months after the end of a three- year cross-border pilot program with Mexico. It was implemented in 2011 to gather data on the operational safe- ty of Mexican carriers participating in the program and to test the feasibil- ity of opening the border to Mexican trucking companies. FMCSA said that the 15 participat- ing carriers had slightly better rates of safety violations than U.S. carriers and drivers. However, a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General and FMCSA's own Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee noted that low participation in the pilot program made its data invalid. All Mexican carriers that apply for DOT operating authority will have to pass a Pre-Authorization Safety Audit to ensure they manage hours of service compliance and adhere to U.S. drug testing laws, FMCSA said. Drivers will be required to have a U.S. commercial driver's license or a Mexican Licencia Federal de Con- ductor and also must meet English language proficiency requirements. FMCSA said the vehicles of carri- ers admitted to the program will be required to undergo standard Level 1 inspections every 90 days for at least four years. DOT said the policy will end about $2 billion in tariffs imposed on U.S. goods by Mexico in 2001 as a retal- iatory measure for the United States not meeting its North American Free Trade Agreement obligations. The American Trucking Associ- ations said it supports the agency's move to open the border as long as Mexican carriers comply with the same standards as U.S. carriers. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said the lack of participation by Mexican carriers in the pilot program showed that Mex- ican carriers do not want to abide by U.S. safety regulations. "This program is all about geopo- litical economics," said Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president. FMCSA maintains the 5,500-plus inspections conducted during the three-year pilot program yielded enough information for the agency to reach its decision. Also in those three years, the agency gathered inspection data from 952 Mexican-owned carri- ers, which contributed to the decision, said spokesperson Marissa Padilla. The low number of participants wasn't an issue, Padilla said, as the number of inspections was the prima- ry goal. FMCSA originally projected it would need 46 carriers participating in the pilot program to produce the 4,100 inspections. OIG, however, noted that 80 percent of the inspections conducted during the program were performed on two carriers that accounted for 90 percent of the border crossings. U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he intends to use upcoming legislation to push FMCSA to address what he calls "ongoing concerns" with the program. DeFazio said lawmakers are likely to take a look at cross-border trucking as they consider renewal of federal highway funding. – James Jaillet U.S. opens door for Mexican carriers FMCSA's move follows the end of a three-year cross-border pilot program with Mexico that produced mixed results in terms of adequate data gathering. THE BRAKE SAFETY WEEK inspection blitz held in September saw 2,162 trucks – 16.2 percent of the vehicles inspected – placed out of service, according to the Commercial Vehi- cle Safety Alliance. That percentage was the highest in the previous four years, topping 2011's 14.2 percent, 2012's 15.3 percent and 2013's record-low 13.5 percent. THE KENWORTH T880 was named the American Truck Dealers' Commercial Truck of the Year at last month's ATD Convention and Expo in San Francisco, besting two other finalists, the Peterbilt 567 and the In- ternational WorkStar 7600. The trucks were judged by a panel of trucking journalists and Greg Nauertz, a driver for YRC. ATD also named Scott McCandless of Mc- Candless Truck Centers the 2014 Dealer of the Year. CLASS 8 TRUCK ORDERS in December topped 40,000 for the third consecutive month, pushing 2014's order total to 375,000, the highest annual total since 2004 and the second highest ever.