Exporters claim that the lack of staff at border posts at certain times of the day is slowing the processes for customs clearance, security and sanitation issues.
Lack of staff and lack of coordination in the timetables for services provided to carriers are the main causes of the constant delays faced by companies that transport goods from Costa Rica to Central America.
The authorities at customs offices in Guatemala and Honduras have opened new routes for regional transit of goods between the two countries.
The aim of the opening of new routes at the borders between the two countries, in El Florido and Agua Caliente, is to streamline regional trade which has been blocked because of the protests over the application of a fee of $18 in Salvadoran customs offices for X-ray inspection of trucks.
If it is not for one reason it is another: now cargo is building up in Paso Canoas because of the closure of the customs office due to the Panamanian holiday.
The problems, according to Gerardo Bolaños, CEO of Customs at the Ministry of Finance, are not caused by the Costa Rican side but in Panama. This is because last Monday was a holiday in the country.
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.
An agreement has been made to reform the law "Fondo de Atención para Víctimas de Accidentes de Tránsito" (Fund for Attention to Traffic Accident Victims) to exempt carriers carriers who already have private insurance from additional charges.
The agreement was reached in the Finance Committee of the Salvadoran Congress after the Salvadoran Association of International Freight Carriers (ASTIC by its initials in Spanish) threatened to paralyze the service at all of the country's border crossings, on 1 July.
The regional freight sector has agreed to purchase insurance to protect accident victims.
Prensalibre.com.gt reports that "The government of El Salvador and cargo transport unions in Central America, agreed yesterday in "supporting" a legal reform which alleviates them from the payment of a tax on those who already pay insurance to cover against any accidents, an official said. "
Complaints have been made stating that the new tax charged by the government of El Salvador on vehicles from other countries who cross its borders, will increase costs and hinders regional trade.
The Salvadoran decision "is detrimental to the competitiveness of the Central American region, further increasing costs related to insecurity, and this measure goes against the principal of free movement of goods in the region," said the Federation of Chambers of Agriculture and Agroindustrialists in Central America (Fecagro).
Costa Rican Carriers have blocked cargo vehicles from crossing the Costa Rica - Panama border at Paso Canoas, in protest against control procedures by Panamanian officials.
The blockade has lasted five days and involves about a thousand trucks detained on both sides of the border.
The situation has got worse in the last few hours, with reports of a run over a person at the site.