SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — For almost 24 hours, the computer system used to process trucks heading into the U.S. at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry malfunctioned limiting the number of trucks that could cross the border.
The delays took place on the Mexico side of the crossing.
Israel Delgado Vallejo, vice president of the National Truckers Council in Tijuana, said the system finally came back on-line at 8 a.m. Thursday, nearly 24 hours after it went down.
The computer system is operated and maintained by Mexico’s National Guard, which processes trucks coming out of Tijuana at the border.
“Here in Tijuana we have about 7,000 crossings daily around this time of the year,” said Delgado Vallejo. “Every load means at least $250 to our drivers, more if you have to drive to Los Angeles or to the east, so we lost about $3.5 million due to this malfunction.”
According to Delgado Vallejo, there had been disruptions in the system all week, but it gave out Wednesday.
“Every load that doesn’t get across the border quickly disrupts the supply chain and means millions in losses north of the border.”
Mexico’s National Guard has not said anything about its processing system being down.
In the past, it has blamed poor internet connection for service disruptions.
In South Texas, commercial traffic heading south of the border is returning to normal after an outage linked to Mexico’s customs equipment. That prompted the suspension of cargo lanes at one South Texas bridge and caused significant backups at several other bridges.
