For Santa Teresa Port of Entry, 2020 forecast is rosy for border trade with Mexico
The New Mexico Border Authority office is seen at 221 Pete V. Domenici Highway near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, an international border crossing, on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. [Diana Alba Soular / Las Cruces Sun-News]
LAS CRUCES - Border trade leaders met on Wednesday, Feb. 19, with U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, D-NM, in his Las Cruces field office to provide a forecast the Santa Teresa Port of Entry and the port’s role in trade with Mexico.
Each expressed optimism for the year ahead.
“We think that 2020 is going to be even better than 2019,” said Jerry Pacheco, president of the Border Industrial Association.
Port officials, which have long lacked the ability to process hazardous materials, expect that to change by the end of 2020. Adding a hazmat containment site could increase the port’s volume of traffic by 20 percent — from 600 trucks per day to 720.
“By piecing together that hazmat capability, we’re going to get a lot more traffic and be able to attract a lot more prospects,” Pacheco said.
Heinrich, who sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, expressed displeasure with the limited understanding that his fellow committee members have about the role Customs officers play.
“Most of my colleagues on Homeland Security — except for the chair and ranker — can’t tell you what CBP officers do,” Heinrich told the group, which included several high-level CBP officers from the Santa Teresa Port.
“They need to have a much stronger appreciation for not just Border Patrol agents, but for your officers, too,” he said. “And how much you facilitate all of the things we want to happen on the border. That’s been a big frustration of mine. Because everyone wants to throw money at Border Patrol — sometimes to the point of (excess) in a certain area — but they won’t make that same investment in CBP, which is where we can really make a difference on a number of these issues.”
Heinrich said that, now that the uncertainties governing the specifics of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — which replaces the North America Free Trade Agreement — have been ironed out, the parties can move forward with a degree of certainty that will benefit trade at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.
“I think, now that we have a level of certainty as to what the regulatory environment looks like, that will provide more confidence in long-term investments and the potential for growth in this particular port of entry,” Heinrich told the Sun-News. “I think it means more economic activity; I think it means more volume, and we need to plan for that. And the sooner, the better.”
Hazmat port of entry
Marco Grajeda, executive director of the New Mexico Border Authority, believes that having a finalized version of the agreement will only benefit the state’s ports of entry.
“I think having a completed, updated USMCA is going to mean a great deal,” Grajeda said. “The re-drafting — and the way it was handled — created some instability for our region. We’re looking at opportunities, ways that we can benefit. One of those is Mexico opening up its energy sector for U.S. fuel. That’s one of the reasons we’re pushing to get a hazmat containment site at the port of entry.”
Currently, the Santa Teresa Port of Entry is not authorized to permit the transport of hazardous materials. Grajeda said he expects that to change this year. In order to make this happen, the port needs a dedicated hazmat containment site.
“This is really the last piece of the puzzle to be able to transport something like fuel to Mexico,” Grajeda told the Sun-News. “We have everything else. We have hazmat units, and a fire department that is hazmat-trained and able to respond in case of an emergency. But this containment site would be a building where a truck would park in case of a fuel leak, or (some other cargo) leaking, to be able to contain it safely before it is removed. That’s needed in order for us to have a hazmat port of entry. Like I said, it’s really the last piece of the puzzle. And it would provide that extra layer of safety at the port of entry.”
Grajeda said only one of El Paso’s port of entries is hazmat approved — the Ysleta-Zaragoza port — so there’s only one in the region. “Columbus has a hazmat containment site, but I’m not sure that they get any hazmat cargo, since they mainly deal with agricultural products.”
Grajeda said his agency would like to get the hazmat authorization done as soon as possible.
“Much of the funding will come from pledged Capital Outlay improvement funds from state legislators,” Grajeda said. “We probably wouldn’t get the funding until this summer. After that, we have to (submit a request for proposals) and design the whole project, but we’d like to get it done as quickly as possible. The port is planning to be a hazmat port by the end of the year, and we’re going to try to meet that goal.”
Heinrich said he expects the growth at Santa Teresa’s port of entry to outperform 2019.
“I would expect continued growth. How much more will be limited by whether or not we can solve those external issues,” Heinrich said, referring to the port’s infrastructure, hazmat and staffing needs.
Similarly, Grajeda said he expects to see even more growth on New Mexico’s border.
“The trends look really good,” Grajeda said. “Just on the commercial side, we’ve seen a 24 percent increase from last January to this January. If we get the hazmat containment site, that’s going to kick it up substantially. We’re looking at an extra 120 new trucks crossing daily. We now have about 600, so that’s a huge jump — and that’s only on the hazmat side alone. If they continue to have 10- to 15-minute wait times, we’re going to see more people utilizing this port of entry.”
Grajeda said his agency is committed to seeing Santa Teresa’s momentum grow.
“We’re pleased that Senator Heinrich and his team took the time to meet with us and hear about our accomplishments as a region, but also the challenges and how he can help out,” he said. “We have a great delegation — with Senator Heinrich, Senator Udall and Representative Xochitl Torres Small. So I expect a lot of support, and we’re really excited about the future.”
Damien Willis is a Lead Reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-541-5443, dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.
This story originally appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News on Feb. 24, 2020.
