b'2American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comThe USMCA benefitsUSMCA TRADE 2024transportation providers, customers and end consumersHowever, challenges exist from border crossing issues to cargo theft.By Debra Phillips, AJOTFour years ago, the U.S.container ships to wait in the Mexico-CanadaAgree- Pacific for weeks or months ment (USMCA) trade agree- to be allowed to enter the port mentbecameeffective,and have cargo processed.replacingandupdatingtheToday, there are virtually much-debatedNorthAmeri- no containers offsite waiting can Freight Trade Agreementtoenterports.Itdoestake (NAFTA.)TheAgreementanaverageofonetothree wassignedonNovemberdaysforacontainertobe 30,2018,followingmuchunloaded.However,many debate from varied sharehold- companies have already made ers.WhenUSMCAbecamethe transition to nearshoring effectiveinJuly2020,Theafter careful consideration of AmericanTruckingAssocia- market dynamics.tions(ATA)andtheAmeri- Thegoalistoreduce can AssociationofRailroadscosts, increase speed to market, (AAR)applaudedthenew(BENEFITScontinued on agreement, which was viewedpage 4)as beneficial to all three coun-tries, leading to freer markets and trade and stimulating eco- EXPERT LOGISTICS nomic growth.C ross -B orderB usinessisB ooming has become theON DEMANDFast forward to July 2024, and Mexico number-onetradingpartnerANYWHERE. ANYTIME. ON TIME. with the US, replacing China. Accordingtosomereports, in February 2024 alone, two-waytradebetweentheUS and Mexico reached $67 bil-lion, an increase of 11% year-over-year.Notalloftheincrease intradebetweentheUS, Mexico, and Canada can be attributedtotheUSMCA. Large-scalesupplychain disruptionsbeginningwith theglobalpandemicled many companies to reevalu-ate their trading partners and considersourcingcloserto the end consumer, a practice called nearshoring.AccordingtoEdHabe, vicepresidentofMexico sales for Averett, a less-than-truckload(LTL)provider, some of the most severe chal-lenges posed during the pan-demic directly resulted from Chinas Zero-COVID policy. This one policy locked down manufacturingandtranspor-tation hubs for months.To underscore the impacts ofnearshoring,morethan 450newcompanieshave relocatedtoMexicosince 2022,whichsomeobserv-ers have said could increase importstotheU.S.by30 or40%,saidKaitlynHol-mecki, ATA senior manager ofinternationaltradeand securitypolicy.Thevalue oftrucktransporttrade toandfromMexicoand Canadahasincreasedmore than 43%.Another challenge, unre-latedtoCOVID,ledmoreCONTACT UScompaniestoconsidernear- 1000 Foust Road Brownsville, TX 78521shoring. Congestion at all US+1 (956) 831-4592portsbecamesevere,partlywww.portofbrownsville.comduetolaborissues. Atthat time, it was common for 100'