• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Truck Blockade at U.S.-Mexico Border Imperils $440 Billion Trade

Truck Blockade at U.S.-Mexico Border Imperils $440 Billion Trade

U.S. Customs and Border Protection
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer stands next to a line of trucks entering from Mexico at the Otay Mesa Cargo Port of Entry in San Diego, California. Photo: Bloomberg.
April 12, 2022
Bloomberg

A Mexican truck blockade at a key Texas bridge is diverting U.S.-bound cargoes to far-flung crossings, worsening shipping snarls and raising the specter of delivery disruptions for everything from avocados to auto parts. 

Truckers on the Mexican side of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge are protesting Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s stepped-up inspection effort. With commercial traffic at a total standstill at the Pharr-Reynosa chokepoint, 18-wheelers are being diverted to other Texas crossings, where the crush of trucks is exponentially increasing wait times to enter the U.S. 

In the first six days of Abbott’s decree, almost one-fourth of the more than 3,400 commercial vehicles inspected “were placed out of service for serious safety violations that include defective brakes, defective tires and defective lighting,” according to the Department of Public Safety. Almost 12,000 violations were cited and 79 drivers were “placed out of service.”

With temperatures forecast to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), produce hauled in unrefrigerated trucks is at risk of spoiling at a time of already rampant food inflation. 

About $443 billion in electronics, fruit, nuts and machinery crossed into the U.S. via Texas-Mexico ports of entry last year, according to the Texas Center for Border and Economic and Enterprise Development at Texas A&M International University in Laredo.

Vehicle Inspections

The dispute stems from Abbott’s decision last week to dispatch state police to inspect shipments flowing north into Texas in what he said would “ensure that Texans are not endangered by unsafe vehicles and their unsafe drivers.”

The delays “are significantly impacting the local and regional supply chain, to the point that local trade associations are requesting that the Texas government provide relief of process change to the border truck inspection process,” said a White House official, who said the blame lies solely with state officials and not federal border patrol agents. 

On Tuesday, Mexico’s Deputy Trade Minister Luz Maria de la Mora sent a letter to the Republican leader of the second-largest U.S. state requesting cooperation in finding ways to keep trade flowing. The governor’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

As a result of diversions away from the Pharr-Reynosa crossing, other bridges are seeing traffic swell and the combination of more trucks and the Abbott-ordered inspections mean wait times to cross at Laredo have jumped to 4 hours from the normal 30 minutes, said Jerry Maldonado, president of the Laredo Motor Carriers Association. 

“We’ve been trying to get the governor to listen to us,” Maldonado said in a telephone interview. “Unfortunately, as of this morning they are still doing the inspections and it’s still delaying all the border crossings in Laredo of stuff coming from Mexico to the U.S.”

‘Wreaked Havoc’

“The commercial traffic at Pharr International Bridge is currently halted temporarily, in both directions, due to a protest occurring on the Reynosa side of the bridge and due to no southbound movement by U.S. carriers,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in an email. “Under established business resumption protocols, northbound commercial traffic is diverted to neighboring ports of entry in the interim.”

Abbott’s order adds another layer of inspections for commercial truckers who already were subject to examination at Border Patrol checkpoints at the bridge and along Texas highways. 

“The execution of this order has wreaked havoc up and down our supply chain and is likely to leave state store shelves with limited fresh produce supplies,” Dante Galeazzi, chief executive officer of the Texas International Produce Association, wrote in an open letter to Abbott. 

Semana Santa

In addition to motorist safety, Abbott’s order cited “cartels that smuggle illicit contraband and people across our southern border.” 

The protest may also disrupt the busy “Semana Santa,” or Holy Week holiday, when thousands of Mexican tourists cross the border to go shopping and vacation in Texas border towns, said Gerry Schwebel, an executive vice president with Laredo-based International Bancshares Corp. 

“With Semana Santa happening now, this is the worst time for us,” Schwebel said. “It’s one of the busiest times of the year at our international border crossings. If people are going to be stuck for hours at our ports of entry, they may not choose to come and that would be devastating to our border communities.”

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Logistics Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage Global Gateways LTL/Truckload Services Transportation & Distribution Global Supply Chain Management Global Trade & Economics Regulation & Compliance Supply Chains in Crisis Food & Beverage High-Tech/Electronics Latin America North America
  • Related Articles

    As Trucking Capacity Slims, Shippers Looking at Rail More in U.S.-Mexico Trade Lanes

    Kansas Rail Company Breaks Up a Bottleneck at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Bloomberg

Amazon Aims to Sublet, End Warehouse Leases as Online Sales Cool

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Medical drone

    Amazon May Be Proof That Delivery Drones Aren’t Practical

    Last Mile Delivery
  • ESG Guide

    Confronting the ESG Imperative in Supply Chains

  • SEC building seal

    Get Ready for the Next Phase of ESG: Mandatory Corporate Due Diligence

    Regulation & Compliance
  • Heat Wave Triggers Blackouts

    Vast Swath of U.S. at Risk of Summer Blackouts, Regulator Warns

    Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt
  • Worker using tablet

    Podcast | Stitching Together the Physical and Digital Supply Chain

    Technology

Digital Edition

Scb may 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain ESG Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • 3PL Doubles Productivity With Robots to Fulfill Medical Supply Orders

  • E-Commerce Company Cuts Order Fulfillment Time by 40%

  • Fashion Retailer Halves Fulfillment Time With Omichannel Automation

  • Distributor Scales Business by Integrating Warehouse Automaton Software

  • Fast-Growing Fashion Brand Scales E-Commerce Fulfillment With Whiplash

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming Alithya Barcoding
Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics Generix
GEP GIB USA GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated Inmar
Keelvar Kinaxis Korber
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Lucas Systems
Nvidia Old Dominion Parsyl
Redwood Logistics Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated
Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD Shipwell
Tecsys TGW Systems Thomson Reuters
Tive Trailer Bridge Vecna Robotics
Whiplash    
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2022 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing