Slowdowns Expected for Goods Crossing the US-Mexico Border

In response to President Trump's push to halt immigration from Mexico into the United States, the US Customs and Border Protection has transferred many of their customs officers to immigration duties, thus cutting freight processing at the US-Mexico border by nearly 30-40%. High volume border crossing ports like El Paso, Laredo and Nogales are experiencing significant slowdowns according to Border Trade Alliance. Truck times to cross the border have increased and delays ranging from four to seven hours have been reported.

President Trump's threat to shut down the border has many shippers attempting to move more goods across in case of such an event. However, the higher volume is causing even more slowdowns and delays for cross border processing. Importers and shippers should expect to experience significant wait times for their crossing goods and should plan accordingly. Unfortunately, this cross-border capacity crunch will likely not improve, at least not while the number of immigrants trying to cross the border diminishes. Until the immigration decreases, President Trump has stated, "we will be focusing on Border Security, not Ports of Entry."

We are happy to offer all water service when viable and please let us know if you would like us to provide any information to enable you to avoid the land border delays.

We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as available. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Source: Cassidy, William B. US-Mexico border backup pummels supply chains. JOC. April 8, 2019