It’s been a strange year at the border.
If egg bandits weren’t bizarre enough, another headscratcher happened last week.
Truckers waited hours to get into the U.S.
Customs systems on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border acted up for a period of time spurring on delays for truck drivers at a well-trafficked port of entry in El Paso, Texas.
Hundreds of rigs were queued up and waiting for hours on end at the Ciudad Jaurez-El Paso border crossing.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports having computer issues over for a few days last week, however the agency says the matter has been resolved on the U.S. side. All systems are working as intended.
Border wait times support CBP’s claims. By Wednesday, trucks were only taking 30 minutes to cross the bridge from Mexico into the states. A true improvement when compared to the day before (Tuesday), where it took them more than an hour on average to cross.
Delays into Mexico linger as the country transitions systems
The same can’t be said for the Mexican side of this crossing. For truck drivers entering Mexico, delays of around eight hours are being reported. Anecdotally, some even reported waiting up to a day to get into Mexico.
Likewise to the U.S. side, southbound delays can also be attributed to computer glitches. However, what’s different than CBP’s tech hiccup is the complexity of the issue.
Mexico is currently transitioning in management between the old Mexican Tax Administration Service (SAT) and the new ANAM. The former had been operating the country’s border customs system for decades while the latter, a new system overseen by Mexico’s military, relies heavily on soldiers to conduct inspections.
Juarez Transport Association, a Mexican trucking group, told Border Report that it estimates only 70 percent of a normal day’s cargo has been crossing the border since last week’s computer glitches.
Horror stories have now emerged of drivers showing up at the crack of dawn only to wait two to threes days because of the delays in processing certain paperwork. In some instances, Mexican authorities are taking 12 to 24 hours just to process some trucks.
Maybe, these can be candidates for crazy trucker stories?
Said delays are expected to linger as the country likely has a productivity hangover from federal offices closing for a national holiday last Friday.
Final Thoughts
The Ciudad Juarez-El Paso border crossing saw more than 650,000 commercial trucks cross its port of entry in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
That number dwarves other crossings, like the Bridge of the Americas or the neighboring Santa Teresa, New Mexico, port of entry.
Taking a step back, it’s hard to imagine a smooth transition when overhauling a decades-long system and replacing it with a newer and unfamiliar one with different management.
Surely, some kinks will be left to sort out and this happens to be one Mexico will have to untangle.
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