The Road to Nogales

“Our company owns and operates a warehouse in Donna [about twelve miles east of McAllen, in Hidalgo County] where we offer services including cold storage, repacking, consolidation, and quality control,” Aguilar says. “We’re crossing more items through McAllen and we expect the trend to continue with product from north and central Mexico.”

Destination is Key
Roberto Franzone, director of Arizona Sky Produce, Inc., says if the company needs to ship to a customer in Canada and entire loads are available in McAllen, they will ship from Texas. “If we have to mix product loads, it makes more sense to ship out of Nogales where the warehouses and storage facilities are closer together. Because of the improvements at the Mariposa port, more warehouses are popping up nearby, making Nogales more efficient.”

Fresh Forum
Last year, receivers were still experiencing some major border delays. Have traffic flow and inspection time improved?

Justin Dutram, Arizona-Mexico Commission
While there are fewer delays, there’s a need for more staffing. Even so, crossing times at the Mariposa port are the fastest on the border.

Tony Garcia, Border Transport, Inc.
We don’t know yet; we haven’t seen improvements from our perspective as a truck broker.

Sandra Aguilar, Ciruli Brothers, LLC
Since last year, we’ve experienced big improvements getting trucks through the port. The sooner our trucks are expedited, the sooner and fresher we can get goods to the customers.

Jerry Havel, Fresh Farms
The new facility has definitely sped things up; however, until we get proper staffing at the port, things will never be 100-percent smooth.

Allison Moore, Fresh Produce Association of the Americas
We’re seeing the amount of time to go through [the border] drop from six hours to 45 minutes. This makes logistics more predictable and improves the quality of life for drivers, customs agents, and residents. There are more reasonable hours, less congestion, and lower pollution— everything is better.

Matt Mandel, SunFed
I believe traffic and inspection flow has improved, but not to the level it should be. The customs agents do a great job, even though they’re short on resources. The officials at the port are keen on working with shippers and trying to be resourceful with limited staffing and means. One way they’ve done this is by offering Sunday crossings during peak time.

Robert Bennen, Jr., Ta-De Distributing Company
The new Port of Nogales has brought welcome efficiencies in crossing time and inspection logistics. The advantage also extends to the fact that Highway 15 from Sonora to our border is considered much safer than Highway 2 that goes into McAllen.

As a truck broker, Border Transport’s Garcia has seen more business going through Texas and bypassing Nogales. He cites an example: “On a normal day, we used to load twelve trucks a day bound for Texas receivers; now we’re down to eight loads a day. The shift to Texas [from Mexico] has affected us, but we’ve adapted by loading more trucks at McAllen destined for local Texas markets, the Midwest, and the East Coast.”