Border Bottlenecks Hinder U.S.-Mexican Trade

September 12, 2000

If trade between the United States and Mexico was free of transportation bottlenecks, chances are good that more farm and food products would move into Mexico from the United States, says a USDA analyst. Bill Coyle, an Economic Research Service economist and analyst, believes there are exporters "who don’t even attempt to export" some perishable products because of delays that an stretch up to several hours or even several days.

"I’m sure there are those who don’t even attempt to export certain types of perishable products because of the uncertainty of the time it’s going to take to get the product across the border," Coyle says. "There is significant delay."

Truckloads of tomatoes, for example, have to wait in lines that stretch for miles, because neither country will allow the other’s tractor-trailer rigs to cross the border, Coyle says. U.S. and Mexican officials plan to meet in January in an effort to work out the problems that have doubled in the last decade because of more open trade under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"There was one report that suggests that trucks coming southbound across the border from Laredo, TX, were forced to wait from three hours to more than 20 hours to make the crossing," says Coyle. "So the time delay can be significant. There’s also a lot of variability and uncertainty about the time it’s going to take to cross, which for some shippers is important, especially those carrying time-sensitive materials."

Probably the most important consideration is the lack of "reciprocal access" for trucks, he adds. U.S. trucks moving south must unhitch the tractor from the trailer at the border. Then a "drayage tractor" hitches up to the trailer and takes it across the border where it is unhitched again.

Then a Mexican tractor hooks up and takes the trailer into Mexico and to its destination, Coyle explains.