Truckers continue to experience delays at U.S. borders in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks as the U.S. Customs Service remains on a high security alert. Government officials said they will take the delays into account when enforcing hours of service regulations.

The U.S. Customs Service is on a "Level 1 Alert." Although security is tighter at both the Mexican and Canadian borders, the delays seem to be the worst at the northern border. Where truckloads of auto parts previously were allowed through with a quick glance at paperwork, now papers and cargoes are being scrutinized. With delays of as long as 15 hours reported, both U.S. and Canadian drivers last week were finding it impossible to comply with hours-of-service regulations, and just-in-time deliveries that were nowhere near in time were wreaking havoc on manufacturing plants. Salvation Army volunteers served food and beverages to stranded truckers, while shuttle buses took them to portable toilets.
Representatives from the American Trucking Associations and the Canadian Trucking Alliance met with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Monday, asking for hours-of-service exemptions for drivers stuck in border-crossing delays. The agency assured ATA that FMCSA enforcement personnel will consider the effect of these border delays in their enforcement of hours of service regulations.
According to ATA, FMCSA will consider enforcement relief in the following situations:

• The enforcement relief will apply only to a 50-mile radius from the port of entry through which the driver entered the U.S.

• Drivers will only be allowed up to two additional hours within the 50-mile radius to either find a safe and secure place to stop and rest and/or make the delivery.

• The relaxation of enforcement will impact truck crossings at select ports of entry experiencing extreme delays which, at present, include Lewiston, N.Y., Peace Bridge, Buffalo, N.Y., the Windsor Tunnel and Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, Blaine, Wash., and Blue Water Bridge, Sarnia, Mich.

• Motor carriers will have to provide proof that the violation occurred as a direct result of the delay at a port of entry. The proof should include a notation on the driver's logbook, and a manifest and bill of lading.

• This HOS enforcement relief is only a temporary measure during this period of "level one" high security at ports of entry.

Customs is working to move extra inspectors to each of these congested crossings and open all lanes for trucks. Although the backups are slowly getting better, delays are still long. Monday morning's worst-hit crossings were the Buffalo Peace Bridge and the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge in New York. Delays early in the day ranged from 12 hours at Queenston-Lewiston to nine hours at the Peace Bridge.
While some New York border crossings are using New York National Guardsmen to help move traffic, almost all of the state's forces have been deployed to New York City. U.S. Customs has moved 30 additional inspectors and 40 National Guardsmen to the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit to keep traffic flowing. Monday morning, officials reported two-hour delays southbound. At the Windsor Tunnel, delays were four hours.

For more information:
U.S. Customs: www.customs.ustreas.gov/news/sept11/sep11infof.htm
Canada Customs and Revenue Agency: www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/customs/general/times/menu-e.html.
Ontario border site:www.solicitorgeneral.msg.gov.on.ca.
Information on the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel crossing is available by radio at WJR-AM 760.