Border Lines
A roundup of North American news:
Staff -- Logistics Management, 6/1/2002
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A plan that would create a trucks-only bridge on the U.S.-Canadian border took an important step forward when a private-sector partnership recently agreed to purchase the former Niagara River railway bridge, which runs between Niagara Falls, Ont., and its U.S. sister city of the same name. The U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries of Whirlpool International Truck Bridge, owned by six investors in the transportation, cross-border brokerage, construction and government relations fields, will buy the bridge from the Canada Southern Railway Co. (CASO). The proposed $220 million renovation of the bridge, which is subject to regulatory review, is expected to take five years. The Whirlpool group plans to convert the bridge into an international toll bridge that would be dedicated to large commercial trucks.
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Under the joint border-security management agreement signed by Canada and the United States in February, U.S. Customs agents have been stationed in the ports of Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver, while Canadian Customs agents are now working in Newark, N.J., and Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. The U.S. agents are checking cargoes that enter the United States through Canada; Canadian agents are looking at Canada-bound cargoes that enter that country via the United States. To date they have not found any weapons or indications of terrorist activities, but they have been successful in detecting several narcotics shipments, according to Bonni Tischler, assistant commissioner of field operations for the U.S. Customs Service. Tischler, the keynote speaker at the recent Coalition of New England Companies for Trade's annual conference, also noted that in the interests of improving security, the agency had looked at consolidating some of the smaller ports of entry on the northern border but decided against the plan after encountering local opposition.
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Even as both countries focus on border-security concerns, the United States and Canada continue to consider ways to improve cross-border traffic flows. In April the governments of Canada, the United States, Michigan and Ontario launched a study of ways to improve traffic movements at the busy Windsor-Detroit gateway. The bilateral partnership has already awarded a contract to study the short- and long-term transportation needs of populations and businesses in the region. One topic to be addressed is whether Detroit-Windsor—the busiest commercial crossing on the northern border—needs additional crossing points. The initial study, which will take up to two years to complete, is the first of a six-part integrated planning and environmental improvement process.
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NAFTA Notes: Kuehne & Nagel has opened a new logistics facility in the high-tech manufacturing center of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The 10,000-square-meter distribution center includes a temperature-controlled area and offers state-of-the-art information systems and equipment to clients in the pharmaceutical, high-tech and retail industries. Canadian National Railway has received Dow Chemical's Safety Agreement Award for 2001. This is the second time that CN has received the award, which recognizes the carrier's achievements in continuous improvements in transportation safety. Pitt Ohio Express now offers less-than-truckload service to all points in Canada through a partnership with Winnipeg-based carrier TransX.
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