Cabotage could be more widespread than we realize

An American company that hired Mexican drivers to haul loads from Nogales, Ariz., to Los Angeles was not caught in a regular anti-cabotage sweep – if there is such a thing. According to some reports, American drivers, who had previously hauled those loads, tipped off authorities. This should not surprise anyone.

In fact, cabotage could be more widespread than we realize. For one thing, the company in question was probably not the only one working the same scheme. And for decades, some Mexican trucks have driven to a commercial border zone and kept on going. We’ll never know what they may have picked up and delivered while they were here.

The challenge will grow if large numbers of Mexican trucks are authorized to deliver shipments from Mexico to anywhere in the United States.

What if empty Mexican trucks without backhauls found domestic loads through American brokers? What if an informal network of brokers could keep Mexican trucks crisscrossing the U.S., maybe for weeks or months at a time?

Why would a broker risk heavy fines to ship with a Mexican carrier in violation of cabotage laws? Money, of course.

Less pay for Mexican drivers could mean lower rates than U.S. carriers must charge. Brokers could pocket the difference. Meanwhile, the Mexican trucker could conceivably earn more money operating illegally in the U.S. than legally at home.

OK, so that may not be likely, especially in the age of ELDs, but more freight moves north from Mexico than comes the other way. That means deadhead, unpaid miles on many return trips for those 41 Mexican carriers vetted and approved to operate north of the border. Those upstanding carriers might not succumb to temptation, but individual drivers or managers within the company might.

As a shipper, you just make out a fake bill of lading that says the load from Chicago is going to Mexico. Put phony labels on cartons near the trailer door, and a Mexican driver can deliver to Phoenix on his way home. You save money. He gets a backhaul.

More Mexican trucks, officially authorized or not, could mean depressed rates on southbound lanes in the U.S. at the very least. LL