Mexico Trucker Online

Senator Byron Lesly Dorgan, jumping at the command of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, offered an amendment to the 2009 Transportation Appropriations Bill aimed at shutting down the successful Mexican Cross Border Demonstration Truck Program.

Of course, Hoffa and OOIDA are praising the efforts, but the effort at what?

The current Cross Border Program is slated to end on September 11, This amendment would not take effect until October 1 at the earliest. But it still must go to conference and be reconciled with the HOuse version of the appropriations bill, voted on by the House and the full Senate and sent to the President for his signature. It will not happen during this administration.

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You hear it every night on late night talk shows such as Rollye James and Art Bell and George Noory and it’s expected that some losers actually believe the talk about North American Unions, Superhighways to benefit Mexico and China and the like, and each time I hear these claims, I shake my head in pity at the people who don’t have the wherewithal to think for themselves.

But then I come across a website such as In Freedoms Cause, and it angers me to think that this bullshit is poisoning the minds of this nations youth.

The author of this blog, a 16 year old named Daniel Berkompas who describes himself as a 16 yr. old Reformed Presbyterian living in the good ol’ rainforests of southwest Washington. Beautiful country, Washington State, good people and a lot of free thinkers.

Danny has taken on the issue of the fictional North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, and for a seemingly intelligent young man, has taken the stance of the conspiracy theorists and nativists who oppose this fictional union.

Some points the young man makes:

Open Borders. They want trade to be able to flow smoothly and easily through the borders, without any more impediments than they can help. For this purpose, they have implemented a “trusted traveler” program, where Mexican trucking companies can register themselves as “trusted” and thereby simply cross the border, no questions asked. No checks, no stops, just breeze straight across the border.

The Trusted Traveler Program is generally recognized as a program where frequent fliers on US airlines can pay a fee and submit to a complete background check in order to obtain credentials to use expedited TSA lanes at US airports. It has nothing to do with Mexican trucks, Mexican truck drivers nor does it allow said drivers to breeze right through Customs without stopping or checks.

Perhaps he was thinking of another program under the US Governments “Trusted Traveler” programs, called SENTRI or Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection Well, SENTRI has nothing to do with Mexican trucks either. It permits travelers returning from Mexico or Mexican citizens access to a special inspection lane which uses a transponder to identify them prior to their reaching the inspectors.

Wait a minute. Danny must have been thinking about FAST, or FREE AND SECURE TRADE. This enables truck drivers from all three countries to apply for the clearance, pay a fee and receives an intensive background check in order to obtain credentials to enter the US from Mexico or from Canada and vice versa. Truckers cannot enter at will and avoid inspections. Ah, the frivolity of youth and public school education.

Danny goes on to make a second incorrect assumption:

# North American ID. In order to make it easy for Mexican truckers to travel throughout America, they advocate either an ID that would be recognized by all 3 nations, or equal status for all national ID’s.

Guess what Danny, they already exist and have for as long as I’ve been alive and they have nothing to do with Mexican truckers specifically. They are called PASSPORTS The US has them and they are accepted worldwide. Canada also has them as does Mexico. Mexican truckers are required to have them, in addition to a B1/B2 visa stamp, for which they undergo a background investigation including criminal check, before the visa stamp is issued. In addition, Mexican truckers or tourists are required to obtain from the US Department of State, an I-94 entry/exit document. Canada is exempt from both of these requirements.

The third point little Danny makes is this:

# Unified Trade Code. When you have a bunch of foreign trucks coming through, you need to have universal highway code that applies to them. After all, if there is an accident, would you judge the incident by American or Mexican law? The resulting unified trade code would trump U.S. law, making us subject to a form of international law.

Who has heard of a Unified Trade Code? Another example of the lunacy going on in the mind of Jerome Corsi to sell his books? And why does Danny mention trade when he is referring to highway laws and regulations? Of course, Danny probably hasn’t completed driver ed yet, if they still offer it in public schools in the US, but traffic laws generally are the same anywhere you go in the world. But let’s concentrate on Mexico as opposed to the US.

In Mexico, the national speed limit on Federal highways is 110 kilometers per hour. In the US, it varies from 65 to 80 mph. In Mexico, you never make a right turn on a red light. In the US, it is permissable. Stop means STOP, ALTO means STOP. The signs are the same. When a foreign national, in this case a Mexican, is operating a motor vehicle within the confines of the United States, he is bound by the laws of the State and the County or Municipality he is operating in. HE is bound as we all are by the laws of the State, County, City and Federal Government. No special treatment.

The same as when I am home in Monterrey or transiting between the border and Monterrey. I am bound by all traffic and criminal laws and statutes of the States and Cities I travel through. My Mexican auto insurance covers me in the event of an accident the same as a Mexican driver’s US insurance would cover him. Is that such a difficult concept to master?

And finally, Danny makes an absurd comment about the supposed NAFTA superhighway:

# Superhighways. They also endorse the building of massive superhighways, such as the Trans-Texas corridor, which would facilitate open border travel throughout all the way from Mexico to Canada, and the ability to get off anywhere in between.

Guess what? We already have highways that transit the US from the Mexican border to Canada. I-5 corridor. The I-35 corridor, I-15, to name a few. At some point in our lifetime, we will see a Trans Texas Corridor or whatever you want to call it. Our interstates are aging and some date back to the administration of Dwight Eisenhower. The country is growing and the infrastructure needs to grow with it. And one can imagine that when the great cross country interstates were being built, there were similar outcries against them. And where would we be today without them.

A Superhighway, Trans Texas Corridor, NAFTA superhighway, whatever tag you put on it, will eventually alleviate traffic congestion and expedite travel of all types. Maybe not in my lifetime, but it will happen.

But yeah, it saddens and angers me that the youth of today, tomorrows leaders are exposed to this type of crap in their formulative years. And after having heard Jerome Corsi spew his propagando numerous times on Rollye James and America’s Trucking Network, and occasionally reading his articles on World Net Daily, he is definitely not the type of role model these kids should follow.
Thank God 16 year olds do not have the right to vote.

I couldn’t help but break out laughing, or as Stevie Sommers puts it, “chuckle”, listening to OOIDA and LandlineNow on XM-171 last Thursday, I think it was, when they brought up the almost dead subject of the Cross Border Program.

I think Mark Reddig was talking with their Washington lobbyist about the status of the program and the comment was made;

All of us at OOIDA are working full time to see this program is stopped in it’s tracks!

Yep, 10 months into the program, and they’re working full time to stop a program that has been successful beyond even what I had imagined.

There have not been the tens of thousand of dangerous and broke down Mexican trucks invading the United States as promised by Joan Claybrook of Public Citizen.

The drayage trucks used within the border commercial zones have not ventured beyond that zone nor have they applied for acceptance into the program by the OP-1MX application process, as Todd Spencer of OOIDA would have you believe.

The trucks participating in the program have done so safely and without apparent accidents and incidents, contrary to what Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamsters would have you believe.

And yes, it appears participation is less than expected. And there could be a reason for that.

Mexican carrier executives are no different from their American and Canadian counterparts. They are in business to make money. If they don’t see the opportunity, they are not going to participate.

Fernando Paez of Transportes Olympics of Apodaca Nuevo Leon is a prime example. He has contracts with RegioMontano Steel of Monterrey to service their customers in the US and to return to Monterrey with raw materials for that customers. This he has done and done so with great success. And has his entry into the US freight market caused any economic hardship on American carriers or depressed the rates? Doubtful! Melton Truck lines hauls the same product and their terminal in Laredo Texas is full of trailer with the same product.

The carrier out of Mexicali, Transportes Rafa, with an account to provide a customer in California’s Central Valley with fruit baskets. How many American carriers are lined up to take this business away from the Rafa Bros.? Not many!

It was said by all the critics that these trucks would be used to transport drugs and illegals into the country and indeed, some of the South Arkansas tin hat crowd suggested nuclear materials for weapons. Guess what! Non of this has happened and won’t!

Sure, there have been stories of trucks being stopped and discovered to have drugs or illegals in them. But it has been proven here and on official government sites that the drugs and illegals come across the border by other means, stockpiled in safe houses until an American trucker, looking for a little quick cash, is stupid enough to accept a load.

Some are suggesting that FMCSA will try to extend the program by a year or two in order to bolster the statistics. Personally, I would think a year without accident or incident, coupled with the Mexican governments own safety statistics (yes, they do have databases) would be enough to prove the opposition to the program is a moot point.

And keeping in mind, after a successful year of the program, and I measure success by the no accident or incident statistics, it is going to be extremely difficult to justify pulling the plug on the program.

The big myth in all of this is that the Mexican carriers can operate cheaper and therefore undercut US rates which is not the case. Sure, they pay their drivers a little less than US carriers, but they also pay those drivers a per diem, cover their Social Security payments and have other perks that go with the job.

And when you consider the additional expenses required to enter into the program, obtain US operating authority, the high cost of US insurance, their costs of operations are equal to or slightly more than ours.

It’s all good business and those that would ignore that fact are the foolish ones. But we all know that OOIDA and others will continue to throw around false information and we will be here to debunk the myths with facts backed up by photos. That has been the success of Mexico Trucker.

Not to think I am totally down on OOIDA. They have apparently done some good fighting the new CARB restrictions in California. Their support of the TRUCC acts moving through Congress at the moment is a good thing for all the good they will do any of us. It is a panacea to a problem with roots deeper than these bills address. But on the issue of Mexican trucks, they are dead wrong and continually prove this by throwing out all the exaggerated misinformation.

We’ll all sit back and wait, but in my mind, we have much more important things to worry about at the moment.

The Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee unanimously approved a measure that calls for President Bush to comply with federal law regarding trucks from Mexico.

Sponsored by state Rep. Dan Surra, D-Elk, the resolution urges the Bush administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation to obey recently enacted federal law.

“Allowing Mexican truckers and long-haul rigs on highways throughout the United States – absent the rigorous inspections and safety and training standards for U.S. trucks and truck drivers – is dangerous to the public,” Surra said in a written statement.

The pilot project was started in September 2007. It authorizes tractor-trailers from 11 Mexico-based trucking operations to cross the border and travel throughout the U.S.

Congress approved legislation late last year to stop funding for the program, citing concerns that Mexican trucks don’t meet U.S. safety standards. The Bush administration and U.S. DOT, however, are continuing to allow the Mexico-based trucks to cross the border.

Surra is looking to put more pressure on the president and DOT to end the program.

“Keeping these Mexican trucks on U.S. highways is a direct violation of federal law, a law that the president himself signed,” Surra said. “It also puts many safe U.S. trucking companies and truck drivers at a competitive disadvantage in their own country.”

More political posturing to be certain. And it will have no effect on anything. 8 months into the program, there have been no accidents, catastrophic incidents or accidents and no American carrier has been put at an “economic disadvantage”

We have proven time and again that these trucks are scrutinized closer than any American or Canadian carrier on the road.

I can forsee at the successful conclusion of the program, either an extension for another year or two, or complete opening of the southern border, conditional on all applicants passing the PASA. And honestly, there will be no reason to deny this from happening.

The arguments of the opposition becomes weaker and weaker as each day passes without an incident, and I also imagine the Courts are looking at the program in this manner.

So Mr. Surra, you’ve had your 15 minutes of fame, now go on back into your hole and continue selling the infrastructure of your state to the highest bidder.

Four years ago, the Government got rid of a state-controlled company that lost $25 million a year turning out smoky buses and trucks that could barely climb Mexico’s mountains.

That same company, Consorcio Grupo Dina, is now operated by a team of businessmen and has an annual profit of $90 million on a new line of trucks and buses. It is one of five Mexican companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Three weeks ago it announced a preliminary agreement in the United States market with the acquisition of Motor Coach Industries International of Phoenix, the largest bus manufacturer in the United States, in a stock deal worth $336.6 million.

It surprised many analysts that a Mexican company — especially one with a rocky past — made the first major cross-border acquisition in the new era of free trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico. A Precarious Position

Because Motor Coach Industries has operations in Canada, the acquisition creates one of the first new North American companies since the North American Free Trade Agreement was approved in Washington, and indicates that Mexican businesses are hardly waiting to be acquired by American companies once Nafta takes effect on Saturday.

The deal also reflects the precarious position that even strong Mexican companies face because of uncertainty over the value of the Mexican peso and the anemic performance of the Mexican economy, which in the last quarter declined 1.2 percent from the period a year earlier.

Analysts say it makes sense for a company like Dina to make major purchases now because a devaluation of the Mexican peso is possible in 1994 and would make any foreign acquisition more difficult and more costly. They also say that while diversifying across borders should be beneficial in the long run, it could weaken the company next year because it will divert resources at a time when growth in the Mexican economy — on which companies like Dina greatly rely — will continue to be restrained.

“This deal will probably hurt the short-term outlook for the company,” said Jorge Garza, an analyst with Vector, a financial services company in Mexico City. “In the long run, though, Dina is pursuing a diversification of its market that will help it avoid the kind of contraction it has suffered this year by relying only on the internal market.”

By most counts, Dina is one of the success stories of Mexico’s ambitious program to get the Government out of business. Since 1987, Mexico has sold off or shut down nearly 1,000 state-run businesses.

Diesel Nacional, the forerunner of Grupo Dina, was formed by the Government and Italian private investors in 1951, and for years was run without much attention to efficiency or service. The Mexican market was effectively closed and buyers had little choice but to take the underpowered, poorly designed trucks that Dina sold.

In 1989, a group of Mexican investors bought the company from the Government for $232 million. The package included Dina’s medium- and heavy-duty truck operations, as well as the company’s urban transit and long-distance bus plants.

Ernesto Moya Pedrola, 47, was recruited from a Mexico City financial services firm and made director general. His strategy for turning around the company had three thrusts — productivity, strategic alliances and assembly.

“There are no magic wands,” Mr. Moya said. “What we’re looking at is more volume, smaller margins, more efficiency and more competition.”

In May, the company signed a new contract with its 4,900 employees that based promotions on merit rather than seniority, and included productivity incentives of the type that the Administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari now proposes.

Productivity gains are obvious. In 1988, the last full year under state control, the company made and sold 2,967 trucks. With roughly the same number of employees, this year it will assemble and sell more than 12,000.

Since 1989, the company has also entered several strategic alliances. One of the most important is with Navistar, the maker of International trucks in the United States, which owns 17.5 percent of Dina’s truck operations. A Brazilian Connection Dina now sells essentially the same truck in Mexico as Navistar sells in the United States. Each company has agreed not to cross the border and sell in the other’s territory.

Dina’s bus operations have affiliated with the Brazilian manufacturer Marcopolo.

Since 1990, when the Mexican Government lifted regulations on bus fares, a new segment of the intercity bus business has opened with air-conditioned, luxury buses. Dina has a 49 percent market share of the intercity bus market and an even higher share of the new first-class segment, according to a Salomon Brothers report on Dina that was published in October.

The third arm of Dina’s strategy was to switch from manufacturing its own truck parts to buying them from suppliers — many in the United States — and becoming an assembler. Dina buys most major components for its trucks from United States companies like Cummins, Caterpillar and Detroit Diesel. Prospects Are Strong

On paper, Dina’s long-term market prospects are strong. During the economic crisis of the 1980’s, many Mexican companies could not afford to replace aging trucks in their fleets.

Roberto Swaine Bell, president of the association representing Dina’s 65 dealers, said that if the Government allowed interest rates to come down, Dina’s sales could surge in spite of Mexico’s weak economy

No, the dates are not incorrect in this story. This was published 15 years ago on December 27, 1993 in the New York Times Business section. You might ask what point does it make about the cross border program and Mexican trucks? If you read closely, you would understand. You are looking at serious business acumen on the part of Mexican businessmen, privatization of industries in Mexico which is fueling the emergence of a very strong and wealthy Mexican middle class. It shows the alliance between International Navistar and Dina, which explains why the old Dinas look suspiciously like IH Loadstars and Transtars of years past.Maybe this is what got Jimmy Hoffa up in arms. The proof that Mexican companies can compete on an equal plane as US companies and excel through ethical business practices and good labor agreements with their workers. And they can do so without the need for unions. Oh, and if you don’t recognize the name MOTOR COACH? INDUSTRIES, think GREYHOUND.

Has anyone ever wondered why it seemed that FMCSA ignored the comments posted concerning Cross Border Program when making their decision to continue with the program? Did anyone with a brain read some of the 2300 comments posted, most in opposition to the program?

Here is an example of a comment posted on the FMCSA website during the comment period. FMCSA did read the comments and came to the correct conclusion that none of them gave any concise or reasoned argument against implementation of the program.

This comment here shows just how misinformed and prejudiced the commenter is. All of his assertions have been disproved here and in real life as the program enters it’s seventh month, with no accidents, no incidents and with great success.

June 20, 2007

Re: NAFTA Trucking Demonstration Project to
Allow Mexican-based Trucks into United States
Docket FMCSA-2007-28055

US Department of Transportation
Docket Operations
1200 New Jersey Ave.
Washington DC 20590

To the Department of Transportation:

This is my commentary to the above mandate you people are ramming down the American citizens’/American truckers’ throats. The vast majority of America does not want this!

Are you people in the White House and Department of Transportation INSANE? This Bill, which I have read in full, indicates a serious mental infliction, a severe case of stupidity, or simply a corporate backroom-boys deal to sell out and eventually destroy America and Americans on the grandest of scales!

Do you really expect us to BELIEVE that you will ENFORCE the items you claim to “require” of these Mexican-domiciled carriers? It is nothing more than rhetoric—we in the real world recognize and understand that word, “rhetoric”. We call it what it is—-“bullshit”.

You want to allow vehicles and drivers from a third-world country who know little of our language, less of our highway systems, and don’t give a rat’s ass about our laws or our people, to roam freely and frequently on our highways and in our neighborhoods? Are you willing to place YOUR loved ones directly into the path of one of these unregulated (see previous paragraph) vehicles or operators?

I am so furiously opposed to this betrayal-bill that I will come to Washington DC myself to venomously protest this heinous mandate! I will rally others to join me. Maybe American truckers should implement a “Washington DC Demonstration Project” the day before one of your holiday breaks begins. Would you THEN get the message?

I will try to tame my anger and state the obvious flaws:

• Their driver qualifications, criminal history checks, drug histories/testing, etc. are lax, while American drivers’ are rigorous. Not only is this a slap in the face/unfair to American drivers, it is potentially deadly to anyone on the highway.
• Foreigners are not familiar or trained for our highway systems, our cloverleaf intersections, our signage, our local, state and federal highway laws or our highway etiquette/customs. This is a formula for a tragedy. I have no doubt that if you can pull this scam off, the first and deadliest accidents will be the Mexican drivers going the wrong way–northbound in the southbound lane, or southbound on the northbound lane of an interstate highway. This is tragic when an automobile makes this mistake, but two 76,000 pound hunks of steel traveling 60 miles an hour hitting head-on will shake the earth all the way to Washington DC. All of you, the FMCSA, the DOT, the Bush Administration, and the Clinton Administration for implementing NAFTA—-you will all be directly responsible for the carnage. You will all answer to this, not only to the Americans, the news media, but especially to the Lord in Heaven when your actions are accounted for!
• In the event of an accident, many law enforcement will not know how to handle someone from Mexico, but they do know what to do with an American driver. If the accident requires investigation, charges, guess who will become responsible—regardless of the truth. And should there need to be appearances before a judge or a lawsuit or trial, if not arrested and detained immediately, guess who won’t show up for the proceedings?
• In the case of crimes upon property or crimes upon people, the Mexican driver can either disappear or simply finish the trip and return to Mexico. Incidentally, if you think they cannot disappear, then please report to the Census Bureau an accounting of the 15-25 MILLION illegal aliens in this country now.
• Mexico is the main source of illegal drugs of all kinds in this country. Illegal drugs are destroying our young people here. This is one of the main reasons why I wonder if you people are insane or just plain stupid!
• Not that the politicians (Bush included) care, but Mexico is the portal of undocumented persons, unknowns into the United States of America. We Americans cannot afford to take care of our healthcare expenses, pay our children’s tuitions, but our taxes pay for the undocumented to have what we cannot have. And speaking of unknowns entering our country does September 11, 2001 ring a bell???????
• You want to talk 911? Implement this incredibly ridiculous bill and the demand for hijacking airplanes will be replaced with more Bagdad-like methods. Hello?????!!!!!!! Is anybody there in Lobbyland THINKING???????
• You wealthy big-city people get your jollies in 5-star hotels with “Madams”. You go to “Gentlemen’s” clubs. These fine establishments hire doctors to assure disease-free entertainment. Outside of DC, on the nation’s highways and byways, things are done differently. Company can be found in back lots of ill-managed truck stops or by a knock on the door in an interstate rest area. It’s not likely that the women and men who knock can afford to have personally-hired physicians to treat the usual sexually transmitted diseases. So how to prevent the spread of new and foreign versions? ……..this conjures up words like “epidemic” and “plague”.
• Speaking of disease, TB is so rapidly being introduced via our 15-25 million uninvited, undocumented souls, that ER personnel are now tested vigorously and often. Yeah, let’s bring even more Mexican trucks into our country to spread TB/pertussis/STDs—Brilliant!
• And finally, we have a huge problem—undocumented, illegal people working for slave wages with no benefits. This is a burden on our hospitals, schools, and social services. A danger to our national security. These foreigners have more rights and benefits than the average American. While the American people worry about the state of the nation and their own life-situations, the DOT and the Decider are worried that there are others who are forced to walk or wade or tunnel across the Mexican/US border. Therefore they created a much better way to transport even more chattel—they designed a mandate in which Mexican trucks would deliver the product—truckloads of human commerce.

You should be ashamed of yourselves!

In conclusion, I will be following this issue and sending copies of this docket comment to others. You are destroying the fabric of America in this program. You people are pathetic! Signed, ***** ******
*******************
—Cynan, former OTR Trucker

This is courtesy of an “admin” on a site that is trying to put itself as the ramrod of the Truckers Shutdown. It speaks for the credibility of the site in question.