September 27, 2007

WASHINGTON - All Mexican and U.S. vehicles participating in the ongoing cross-border trucking demonstration project will have to participate in a satellite-based vehicle tracking system under a plan being developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the government of Mexico’s Secretaria de Communicaciones y Transportes (SCT). In May, the two countries agreed to explore satellite technology as an enforcement tool for the cross-border trucking demonstration project.

FMCSA today announced in FedBizOpps its intent to issue a contract to provide satellite terminals for the near real-time tracking of commercial trucks traveling throughout the continental U.S. and Mexico as part of the cross-border trucking demonstration project. The systems will be installed at no cost to the participating trucking companies – it is not required on U.S. trucking companies operating solely within the U.S.

"This will give us the ability to monitor every vehicle from Mexico and ensure all companies are following our strict safety requirements, including those governing hours of service and cabotage," said John Hill, FMCSA Administrator.

The vehicle tracking system will incorporate a global positioning system and wireless technology to accurately determine a vehicle’s position, and will be used to monitor hours of service, cabotage violations (the point-to-point shipping of domestic loads within the U.S.) and date and time of international and state crossings.

Vehicles will be tracked by vehicle number and company – no driver information will be collected or tracked.

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