Transportation Secretary Mary Peters (center) and John Hill, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief (second from left), visited the El Paso, Texas office of Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution on Oct. 19. They met with Dieter McLaughlin, vice president (far left); Scott McLaughlin, president (second from right); and Don Anderson, vice president (far right).
With all the uproar over Mexican carriers operating in the United States, it’s easy to forget that the Department of Transportation’s North American Free Trade Agreement trucking demonstration program also allowed U.S. trucking companies to operate in Mexico. But Scott McLaughlin hasn’t forgotten.
McLaughlin is president of El Paso, Texas-based Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution, the first U.S. trucking company ever to operate – legally, at least – its own equipment into Mexico. And even if the pilot program doesn’t survive congressional opposition, Stagecoach has opened the door to business opportunities that potentially could continue in some form.
Stagecoach hauled its first load on Sept. 14 to Obregon in the interior of Mexico, but McLaughlin has set his sights closer to home. Although Mexican carriers have been able to operate in the commercial zone across the U.S. border, U.S. carriers haven’t been able to operate their own equipment at all into Mexico. For the most part, this limitation hasn’t hampered Stagecoach, which has built strong ties with solid Mexican carriers.
“We will maintain those alliances,” McLaughlin says, emphasizing that Stagecoach doesn’t plan to use the pilot program to replace its Mexican transportation partners. Instead, McLaughlin pursued the new operating authority initially to develop a specific opportunity across the border – pneumatic tanker transportation.
Loading and unloading pneumatic tanks is complex, and the equipment is fairly expensive, McLaughlin notes. “We want to control the process with our equipment and drivers.”
Some observers have minimized U.S. carriers’ opportunities into Mexico on the grounds that truck drivers wouldn’t be able to speak and read Spanish well enough to operate safely and efficiently in the country. That’s not an issue for Stagecoach; a majority of its drivers are Hispanic and bilingual. McLaughlin, therefore, has plenty of drivers who are suitable for driving the seven trucks the carrier has certified in the program.
