Since El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama have set a 72-hour time limit for freight drivers operating in the region, hundreds of units have decided to halt their operations as a measure of pressure.
Due to the health crisis resulting from the covid-19 outbreak, Salvadoran, Costa Rican and Panamanian authorities decided that the drivers of the cargo transport units entering the country will have only 72 hours to make the formalities at the borders, and to unload and reload the goods from the vehicles.
The Constitutional Court revoked the $260 fine that the municipality of Guatemala would charge to heavy vehicles and double trailers that travel through the city in unauthorized hours, so now the penalty will be $65.
The action of unconstitutionality was brought to the Constitutional Court by the Central American Federation of Transportation (FECATRANS) and the National Coordinating Association of Transport, against Article 4 of Agreement COM-13-2016 of the Municipal Council of Guatemala.
In addition to the usual problems of crime facing cargo carriers in the Northern Triangle, the union has denounced an increase in robberies on Costa Rican roads.
Inequality and lack of coordination in security measures that are implemented in each of the Central American countries is preventing better results from being achieved in combating robbery of freight trucks.
In the customs offices of Tecun Uman working hours have been extended both on the Guatemalan and Mexican side in order to allow passage of trucks which until now had been left stranded.
The Superintendent of Tax Administration is also operating an extraordinary timetable, a measure which could be extended for a few days, depending on what is decided at the end of the weekend.
Carriers are warning that an epidemic of theft of containers that primarily affects El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, may be starting to affect Nicaragua.
The president of the Central Transport Federation (Fecatran), Marvin Altamirano, told Elnuevodiario.com.ni that "... at least four cases of container theft have occurred in Nicaragua. "With the authorities we managed to stop about four containers that had been stolen, and which were loaded onto trucks with Guatemalan plates, that showed that the vehicles were already in contact with international criminal gangs.'"
Companies prefer to hire private guards or outsource transportation of goods instead of purchasing insurance, sales of which fell by 38% between January and October compared to to the close in 2013.
According to the American Federation for Transport (Fecatrans), only 20% of their members have insurance against damage, theft or loss, because it raises costs which must then be transferred to the final price, meaning that the majority only take out insurance for third party damage in order to keep prices at competitive levels.
While firms are losing competitiveness by transporting goods only during daylight hours and spending thousands of dollars on private security, regional bodies are writing in their brochures "borders open 24 hours a day."
The inability to move at night time due to attacks by organized criminals on the roads in the region affects not only businesses but the entire transport chain.
The regional union is bringing charges to the Central American Court of Justice over what it considers to be undue customs fees in El Salvador.
The American Federation of Freight (Fecatrans) announced that it is preparing a lawsuit against El Salvador at the Central American Court of Justice (CCJ). The union is complaining about the fees that carriers pay at customs offices in that country, which it considers improper.
In contrast to what should be a regional customs union, every Central American border post charges vastly different rates and taxes.
"We believe that we could even stage regional custom blockades," said the Nicaraguan Marvin Altamirano, president of the American Federation of Chambers of Transportation (Fecatrans).
Central Freight carriers will meet next August to define the measures to be taken against the different fees imposed by various countries in the region.
Recognized Brazilian company of backhoe loaders, telescopic, articulated and other types of cranes looking for companies interested in representing the brand and distributing their machinery in Central America and Mexico. The company manufactures and sells telescopic,...