Cargo aboard Mexican trucks headed to the US will soon be inspected by American officials in Mexico, and then be allowed to circumvent the queues at ports of entry.
Arturo Sarukhan, the Mexican Ambassador to the US, says the initiative is just days away from being unveiled, eliminating in a stroke the long delays experienced by many logistics companies in crossing the US border.
“Whatever is sent over the border does not have to stop,” he told a panel at the NAFTA20conference in San Antonio. “And this is going to be huge.”
The start date for the initiative isn’t certain. The ambassador said there initially will be three inspection sites on the U.S.-Mexico border, and said U.S. Customs and Border Inspection officers will be in Mexican territory conducting the inspections. When asked specifically where, and if those sites included the border cities of Nuevo Laredo or Ciudad Juarez, which border Texas at Laredo and El Paso, respectively, the ambassador demurred.
Companies wanted to participate will need to make an application to do so and be assessed first by both governments.
Source: myhighplains.com
Say there is a three hour line on the Mexican road leading to the port of entry. How would this proposal mean the truck “does not have to stop”? No matter where the cargo is inspected, the lack of inspectors at the ports of entry means there is a backup that no truck can avoid. Does the plan provide special lanes that no other border crossers can use?