Although the House and Senate each are on record as wanting to zero out funding for the Bush administration’s Mexican carrier pilot program, it appears the demonstration project will continue for at least a few weeks more.
Also, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced Thursday, Sept. 27, that all Mexican and U.S. vehicles participating in the ongoing cross-border project will have to participate in a satellite-based vehicle tracking system under a plan being developed by FMCSA and the government of Mexico’s Secretaria de Communicaciones y Transportes.
The next fiscal year begins Oct. 1, and the House and Senate have yet to pass a consensus version of the Department of Transportation appropriations bill. Instead, Congress apparently will pass a so-called continuing resolution that will provide funding while lawmakers resolve differences on the various appropriations bills.
On Wednesday, Sept. 26, the House passed its version of the continuing resolution (H.J. Res. 52), which continues federal funding through Nov. 16. Although there are some special provisions attached, a funding prohibition on the pilot program is not one of them. However, the final version of the DOT appropriations bill still could kill the program at a later date.
Meanwhile, FMCSA intends to issue a contract to provide satellite terminals for the near real-time tracking of trucks traveling throughout the United States and Mexico as part of the cross-border project. In May, the two countries agreed to explore satellite technology as an enforcement tool for the project.
The systems will be installed at no cost to the participating trucking companies – it is not required on U.S. trucking companies operating solely within the United States, said John Hill, FMCSA administrator. “This will give us the ability to monitor every vehicle from Mexico and ensure all companies are following our strict safety requirements, including those governing hours of service and cabotage,” Hill said.
The vehicle tracking system will incorporate a global positioning system and wireless technology to accurately determine a vehicle’s position, and will be used to monitor hours of service, cabotage violations (the point-to-point shipping of domestic loads within the United States) and date and time of international and state crossings, FMCSA said. Vehicles will be tracked by vehicle number and company – no driver information will be collected or tracked, according to the agency.
