Due to the tropical storms Eta and Iota, severe damage has been reported to the road network in Central American countries, and some border posts in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have been suspended.
Since November 17, operations were suspended at the El Corinto, El Florido and Aguas Calientes border posts. These areas, shared by Guatemala and Honduras, are not operational, according to the Guatemalan Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT).
In Guatemala, the Superintendence of Tax Administration authorized Corporación Disatel S.A. to provide the service of electronic tags for the control of containers in the country.
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.
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.
Freight carriers are opposed to the collection of a fee of $18 per inspection using scanners and are threatening strikes and a change of routes.
Representatives from the freight union are analyzing re routing trucks so that they do not have to cross El Salvador in order to reach the rest of the region, instead crossing at the border of Agua Caliente, Chiquimula, into Honduras.
Insecurity in the Central American countries increases the costs of land freight transport; in the last year alone it required an additional $20 million.
Hiring private security guards, patrols and assisted GPS satellite systems are some of the costs that need to be paid in order move goods in Central America.
The cost of a patrol to accompany a trailer from one border to the capital starts from $150, while for a custodian guard you can pay up to $87.
The Salvadoran border closure is affecting not only the local industry but also neighboring countries with losses of millions of dollars.
Since last Tuesday, the strike at the borders which led to the cessation of domestic trade, has also affected regional trade.
"The blockade has generated, since that day, the paralysis of trade, not only locally but also regionally, as trucks could not transport import and export products.
Mexico and Guatemala have agreed a policy whereby trucks entering the Guatemalan border zone pay $970, a charge that the union considers "harmful" and that is not reciprocal.
The International Transporters' Association (ITA) will challenge the agreement which regulates transportation of cargo and passengers across the border, considering it "harmful to the interests of the country (Guatemala)", reported the newspaper Prensa Libre on its website.
Heavy rains have led to deteriorations in road infrastructure, the closure of customs offices and a reduction in tourism.
The closure of the Entre Ríos customs at the border with Honduras due to the collapse of the bridge over the Motagua river meant that Izabel in Guatemala was cut off from the Honduran industrial capital, San Pedro Sula. This in turn made it impossible for land freight to reach Guatemala from Honduras' Caribbean ports.
Central American cargo companies want Nicaragua to stop charging a 20% toll over the price of each transportation service.
In order to achieve this, delegates from the Central American Chamber of Transport Companies (Catransca), met with representatives of the Nicaraguan Transportation Ministry.
Héctor Fajardo, vice president of the chamber, told Prensalibre.com: “the objective of the meeting is getting Nicaragua to waive these dispositions that affect ground transportation and violate the framework agreement for Central American integration”.