U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun requiring trucks using international bridge crossings in South Texas to print and display the QR code of their cargo manifests on their windshields.
The QR code requirement is for cargo trucks arriving from Mexico using the eight ports of entry that are administered by the Laredo field office. Those include international bridges in Laredo, Brownsville, Eagle Pass, Hidalgo, Rio Grande City, Progreso and Roma.
Officials for CBP said the QR code requirement is meant to streamline the screening process for trucks, as well as reduce wait times.
“This is isolated to the Laredo Field Office area of responsibility since we are the first field office to get large non-intrusive inspection x-ray systems in the truck environment,” Armando Taboada, assistant director of field operations at the Laredo Field Office, told FreightWaves in an email. “The QR code will assist CBP officers by reducing the probability of selecting the wrong shipment/trip number at the time of arrival at a port of entry. This normally adds administrative time in correcting the issue.”
The border crossing in Laredo is currently the No. 1 international gateway for trade in the U.S. Laredo recorded $27.8 billion in two-way trade in July and processed 258,924 trucks during the month, a 9.4% year-over-year increase.
Related: US-Mexico trade hits record $415B through first half of year
In July, Laredo’s World Trade Bridge received an advanced X-ray scanning machine called a multienergy portal inspection device. The device can scan more than 150 containers per hour, CBP said.
“The QR code will assist by linking the non-intrusive inspection image to the shipment/trip number,” Taboada said. “The non-intrusive inspection system is also an enforcement tool used by CBP officers to protect the U.S. from terrorist and narcotic threats such as methamphetamines, cocaine and fentanyl.”
Trucks that are not displaying a QR code on their windshields will not be sent back to Mexico, and will be processed manually, CBP said.
The Laredo Field Office trade division has been communicating with the trade stakeholders and carriers, Taboada said.
“Like all new steps, this will add some additional time to the overall crossing time while the CBP officers and trade stakeholders get familiar with the additional step,” Taboada said. “Eventually, the process will become more efficient and will also have cost savings to the trade stakeholders by having less cargo offloaded (this expense is covered by the importer of record).”
Officials for the Laredo Motor Carriers Association (LMCA) said the new requirements should speed up the screening process for cargo trucks at the border.
“Local CBP leadership presented this new QR code requirement to us, our membership took it with good spirits and was grateful for the partnership we have with CBP,” Jerry Maldonado chairman of LMCA, said in an email to FreightWaves. “We are confident that this new procedure will help us expedite the border crossings.”