FMCSA Grants Permanent Authority to Four Mexican Carriers

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced this week that it had moved multiple Mexican carriers through various stages of registration in the cross-border trucking pilot program this week, including giving permanent authority to four fleets that allows them to operate throughout the United States.

Moises Alvarez Perez, Servicios Refrigerados Internacioles, Higienicos y Desechables del Bajio and Transportes Monteblanco received permanent authority in May or June, FMCSA said in letters posted on its website this week.

Transportes Olympic received permanent authority shortly after the program began in October 2011, and the remaining seven carriers in the program still have “provisional” authority.

Under the program, carriers start with an 18-month period of provisional operating authority, during which FMCSA and law enforcement exercise closer scrutiny of the carrier. At the end of that period, if the carrier has no pending enforcement actions, has operated successfully and passes a comprehensive safety review, it receives permanent authority and is treated similarly to U.S.-based carriers.

Mexican carriers are still subject to the rules of the program, which will run for three years. Transportes Olympic received its authority in 2011 because it was credited for the time it spent in the last pilot program that ended in 2009, FMCSA said.

The agency announced this week that it has recently granted provision operating authority to two Mexican carriers in the pilot program. Ram Trucking and Servicio de Transporte Intenacional y Local both received their operating authority in June.

FMCSA also posted a Federal Register notice Wednesday stating that Sergio Tristan Maldonado, a Mexico-based owner-operator, had passed a safety audit for the pilot program. The agency had sought comments from the public on his application for authority.