Pandemic doubles wait for Mexico-US border cargo

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to delay Mexico-US cargo border crossings, increasing costs and reducing profits for trucking companies, several large Mexican transport firms said.

Wait times for trucks carrying manufactured products and other goods exported from Mexico to the US average seven hours, four hours longer than before the pandemic, said Enrique Gonzalez, head of Mexico's national trucking chamber (Canacar).

"The wait times have affected us a lot," said Gonzalez, who also heads Mexican trucking company Express MG.

The delays are occurring in part because there are fewer US Customs and Border Protection agents working at ports of entry, Gonzalez said.

Mexican trucking companies such as Super Transporte Internacional (STI) urged US authorities to increase their manpower on the border to loosen the bottlenecks.

"What is needed is more capacity on the US side," STI president Ernesto Gaytan Palomo, whose company is headquartered in Nuevo Laredo and also has offices in the US, told Argus .

That is especially important because the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA) implemented in 2020 may boost cross-border trade volumes, Gaytan said.

Trucking costs have risen an average of 15pc due to the delays, and even 50pc in some cases, Gayton said.

"It is affecting us," said Gaytan, whose company moves automotive and other manufacturing products across the border.

The delays drive up costs because transport companies spend more per trip on items such as fuel, driver pay and insurance, Gonzalez said.

Companies in sectors ranging from automotive to agriculture are also losing money because it takes longer for their products to arrive at their US destinations, he said.

Gaytan said crossing times are also affected by smaller trucking companies that arrive at the border without their export paperwork in order.

Jorge Alberto Casares, director general of Mexican trucking conglomerate Alianza Trayecto, said his company's cross-border trips through Laredo, Texas, have been taking 15-20pc longer than usual.

US border agents are conducting more exhaustive inspections and have been stricter about security measures, said Casares, whose company has the largest trucking fleet in Mexico.

"We have had to use more trucks to do the same number of crossings," he said. "We have had to hire more people for crossings and there is a reduction in profitability."

Crossing times in the other direction, from the US to Mexico, range from 1-2 hours, which is not longer than pre-pandemic times, Gaytan said.

By Jens Erik Gould

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