Border Lines

A roundup of North American news

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 8/1/1998

The NAFTA Land Transportation Standards Subcommittee, which negotiates compatible standards related to truck, rail, bus, and hazardous-materials transportation, chalked up some accomplishments in a meeting in Montreal earlier this summer. During that session, the three countries agreed to exchange motor-carrier safety data to support compatible safety-fitness regimes. Mexico, meanwhile, announced that it had completed training its federal law-enforcement officials in Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspection standards and would begin vehicle inspections under those standards this fall. A joint U.S.-Mexico inspection exercise will be held along the border by year's end. Mexico also has invited Canada to teach a course on inspection of tank trucks carrying hazardous materials. All three countries agreed to develop a North American model rule and standards document for hazardous-materials transportation.