Free PDF AccessFree Resources |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 3
tractor-semitrailer. The program began on May 17, these designated routes. These costs could be offset
2010, and will allow ADOT to evaluate the effective- by a reduced number of trucks resulting from greater
ness of allowing overweight trucks from Mexico and efficiencies.
to determine whether to continue and possibly expand
the service to other Mexico/Arizona commercial
BACKGROUND
zones. Among other requirements, the carrier must
utilize a sealed container originating in Mexico, must Providing background information on the char-
meet Arizona axle load limits, and must follow spe- acteristics of Mexican truck movement will help lay
cific routes designated on the permit. the foundation for later discussion of size and weight
issues. The emphasis placed on the types of trucks
Mexico/U.S. Analysis crossing the U.S./Mexico border is significant because
Mexican trucks have been crossing the border into
Keeping roadways safe and protecting infrastruc- the U.S. commercial zone for many years, and the
ture from premature decline are key issues in the expectation is that Mexican trucks could someday
debate over truck size and weight in the United States. travel far beyond the commercial zone on a more
A review of the Mexican experience with larger, widespread basis.
heavier trucks may provide important insights that
can be factored into the decision process in the United
States. U.S./Mexico Trade by Truck
A major contributor to the adoption of heavier U.S./Mexico trade by truck grew by a factor of
trucks in Mexico is the Mexican Bridge Formula. almost three between 1995 and 2008, from $80 bil-
However, it is difficult to evaluate this formula lion in 1995 to $234 billion in 2008. This increase
in comparison to U.S. Federal Bridge Formula B is equivalent to an average annual growth rate of
because there is little or no documentation on com- 8.75 percent (1). The number of trucks that crossed
pliance with Mexico's bridge construction stan- the border from Mexico into the United States grew
dards, monitoring of bridge construction, or bridge from 2.9 million in 1995 to 4.9 million in 2008 (see
maintenance. Figure 2).
The United States is more conservative than Mex- Land trade between Mexico and the United States
ico and Canada in permissible GVW. Nonetheless, is concentrated heavily at a limited number of ports of
one element of the Mexican experience that may entry (POEs). Texas POEs near Laredo, El Paso, and
have relevance for the United States involves desig- Hidalgo (Pharr/McAllen); California POEs at Otay
nating specific routes for heavier vehicles. However, Mesa and Calexico-East; and the Arizona POE at
if heavier truck limits were permitted, there could be Nogales handled 90 percent of the total trade by
increases in administrative and enforcement costs on truck between the two countries. The Laredo POE is
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
No. of Trucks
TX
CA
3,000,000
AZ
NM
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Year
Figure 2 Trucks entering the United States from Mexico.
3
OCR for page 4
120
100
Billion Dollars
80
60
40
20
- as
as
ia
as
o
a
as
ia
ic
on
rn
rn
ex
ex
ex
ex
ex
riz
ifo
ifo
-T
-T
-T
-T
M
al
al
-A
o
so
go
lle
ew
-C
C
d
es
vi
Pa
-
re
al
-N
a
st
ns
id
al
La
es
Ea
El
H
og
ow
sa
M
o-
N
re
Br
y
ic
Te
ta
ex
O
a
al
nt
C
Figure 3 Value of U.S./Mexico truck trade by port of entry--2010. Sa
by far the largest, with 38 percent of the total trade in transportation undersecretary and includes four
2010, and Laredo and El Paso combined handled groups of members:
56 percent of the total 2010 truck trade (see Fig-
· Federal agencies of the government
ure 3). Truck trade between Mexico and the United
Economy
States is expected to continue growing. Freight trans- Security
portation in Mexico is dominated by trucks. More Treasury
than 80 percent of the total tonnage transported in Environment
Mexico by land modes is moved by truck. Foreign Relations
Health
Vehicle Size and Weight Regulations National Defense
State Department
Several rules and regulations define the opera- Tourism
tion of commercial vehicles in Mexico. Laws, or Labor
"reglamentos," establish in general terms the subject Agriculture, Fishing, and Natural Resources
matter regulations, and the standards, or "normas," PEMEX (the state oil company)
define the detail. The regulations have one or more · Industry and trade organizations, includ-
Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM) (Official Standard). ing those involved in transportation such as
The Mexican Official Standards provide greater detail Camara Nacional del Autotransporte de Carga
pertaining to the content of the regulations. (CANACAR), a trade association represent-
In Mexico, the federal government--through the ing individual carriers within the Mexican
Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) trucking industry; Asociación Nacional de Pro-
(Ministry of Communications and Transport)-- ductores de Autobuses, Camiones y Tracto-
establishes truck size and weight regulations for camiones (ANPACT), an association of bus and
operation on the federal highway system. The states truck manufacturers; and Asociación Nacional
do not have the authority to establish different stan- de Transporte Privado (ANTP), an associa-
dards from the ones established by the federal govern- tion of private transporters among others.
ment, specifically the SCT. The Comité Consultivo · Education and academic institutions, including
Nacional de Normalización de Transporte Terrestre the Instituto Mexicano del Transporte (IMT),
(CCNN-TT) (National Consultation Committee of the Mexican Transportation Institute, which
Standard in Land Transportation) develops the Mexi- is the research arm of the SCT, and the National
can NOMs in the transportation sector. Ley Federal Autonomous University (Universidad Nacional
sobre Metrología y Normalización (the Rule and Reg- Autónoma de México) among others.
ulation Federal Law) defines the committee opera- · The Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor
tion rules. The CCNN-TT is chaired by the SCT's (Federal Consumer Commission)
4
OCR for page 5
The CCNN-TT's main functions regarding truck regulate the building, operation, conservation,
size and weight regulations include the following: and maintenance of roads and bridges, as well
as the motor carrier services that operate on
· Contributing to the National Standard Program
them and their ancillary services.
by developing proposals for new standards
· Reglamento sobre el Peso, Dimensiones y
· Requesting that the SCT publish a particular
Capacidad de los vehículos de Autotransporte
NOM
que transitan en los Caminos y Puentes de
· Reviewing and modifying the NOMs if needed
jurisdicción Federal (RPD) (Regulation Con-
· Coordinating with other groups as needed
cerning Weights, Dimensions, and Capacity of
· Analyzing the Manifestación de Impacto Reg-
Commercial Vehicles that Travel on the High-
ulatorio (MIR), a regulatory impact statement.
ways and Bridges of Federal Jurisdiction) from
The CCNN-TT meets at least every 3 months and November 2006. This regulation aims to reg-
also has subcommittees that analyze the NOMs with ulate weight, size, and capacity of commercial
more detail. Before any regulation or NOM is pub- vehicles, and includes maximum truck weight
lished in Diario Oficial de la Federación (the Mexican and size limits.
Federal Register), it has to go through a process of · Reglamento de Autotransporte Federal y Ser-
approval by la Comisión Federal de Mejora Regulato- vicios Auxiliares (RAFSA) (Regulation of
ria (COFEMER) (the Federal Regulatory Improve- Federal Motor Transportation and Auxiliary
ment Commission). The COFEMER requires that Services). The latest update was in November
all federal agencies present a Regulatory Impact of 2000. The objective of this statute is to regu-
Statement (MIR) with the draft NOM. The MIR is late the motor carrier passenger, tourism, and
open to the public for comments, and if it is approved cargo services as well as their ancillary services.
and the cost-benefit analysis results are positive, The SCT is responsible for its enforcement.
the COFEMER approves the MIR, and the NOM is · Reglamento del Servicio de Medicina Preven-
published. tiva en el Transporte (RSMPT) (Regulation of
The year associated with each NOM is the year Preventive Medicine Services for Transporta-
it was first initiated, in this case by the SCT, and tion), with the latest update in 2004. The objec-
the NOM usually keeps the same "year" name if tive of this regulation is to establish and regulate
minor updates or delays cause its subsequent imple- preventive medicine services in transportation,
mentation to occur in a different year. Major changes through the practice of comprehensive psy-
might cause the year to be modified (e.g., NOM-012- chophysical tests and medical and toxicological
SCT-2-1995 was initially published in 1995 and was exams, in order to have a personal record for
modified several times until it was finally replaced by Mexican or foreign commercial vehicle drivers.
NOM-012-SCT-2-2008, which was approved in · Reglamento de Tránsito en Carreteras Fed-
2008). erales (RTCF) (Regulation of Circulation on
The first regulation that established general stan- Federal Highways) dated April 2004. The
dards for commercial vehicles was the Capitulo XI objective is to regulate the circulation of all
del Reglamento del Capítulo de Explotación de types of vehicles.
Caminos de la Ley de Vías Generales de Comuni-
The main standard that establishes commercial
cación que Trata del Peso y otras Características de
vehicle specifications is Norma Oficial Mexicana
los Vehículos (the Regulation Concerning Weights
NOM-012-SCT-2-1994 sobre el Peso y Dimensiones
and Other Vehicle Characteristics). The publication
Máximas con los que Pueden Circular los Vehículos
of this regulation in 1980 was the first time that the
de Autotransporte que Transitan en los Caminos y
federal government had published rules for large
Puentes de Jurisdicción Federal, the Maximum
commercial vehicles.
Weight and Dimensions of Motor Transport Vehicles
Other related regulations that led to the current
Traveling on Federal Jurisdiction Roads and Bridges
standards include the following:
(NOM-012). The first version was published in 1994
· Ley de Caminos, Puentes y Autotransporte and was NOM-012-SCT-2-1994.
Federal (LCPAF) (Law of Roads, Bridges, This regulation has been the subject of numer-
and Federal Motor Transportation) from ous changes and has encountered major opposition
October 2004. The objective of this law is to from the private transportation sector. The private
5
OCR for page 6
sector, represented by the National Association of Pri-
vate Transporters, ANTP, claimed that the new regu-
lation, which would reduce the gross vehicle weight
(GVW) limits of some truck configurations, would
compromise Mexican competitiveness.
After several revisions of the 1995 version
(NOM-012-SCT-2-1995) and negotiations with the
private sector, the SCT developed the latest revision
(NOM-012-SCT-2-2008), which is the one currently
in use.
Table 1 presents the commercial vehicle configu-
rations with one or more trailers allowed in Mexico
according to the latest NOM-012. Figure 4 shows a
typical T3-S2 Mexican five-axle combination vehicle
operating along the commercial zone along the U.S. Figure 4 T3-S2 vehicle used in Mexico and operating
side of the border. This truck is similar in dimen- in Texas.
Table 1. Current commercial vehicle configurations sions to U.S. five-axle vehicles and is required to meet
allowed in Mexico. the weight limits allowed in the United States. Since
Mexico allows higher axle and gross vehicle weights,
Vehicle No. of No. of Truck many of the trailers have cargo offloaded before
Type Axles Tires Configuration crossing the border to comply with U.S. laws.
Larger vehicles, often referred to as LCVs, also
T2-S1 3 10
operate in Mexico, but under current rules they are
T2-S2 4 14 generally not allowed to cross the border into the
United States. The United States allows LCVs on cer-
T2-S3 5 18
tain routes, but under the Intermodal Surface Trans-
T3-S1 4 14 portation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), these
routes are not allowed to expand beyond their limits
T3-S2 5 18 at the time of the legislation. Figure 5 and Figure 6
T3-S3 6 22 are examples of LCVs currently operating in Mexico.
The T3-S2-R4 in Figure 5 consists of two 40-ft trail-
T2-S1-R2 5 18
T2-S2-R2 6 22
T2-S1-R3 6 22
T3-S1-R2 6 22
T3-S1-R3 7 26
T3-S2-R2 7 26
T3-S2-R3 8 30
T3-S2-R4 9 34
T2-S2-S2 6 22
T3-S2-S2 7 26
T3-S3-S2 8 30
SOURCE: NOM-012-SCT-2-2008. Figure 5 T3-S2-R4 LCV used in Mexico.
6
