SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — After a year that has seen deliveries across the border drop by 40 percent, truckers are noticing an uptick in work as the holidays approach.
According to Israel Delgado Vallejo, vice president of the Northwest Freight Transporters Association, the Christmas and Thanksgiving push has already started with demand for certain products.
“It has been a complicated year,” Delgado Vallejo said. “This is the final stretch and we’re seeing a slight spike in some industrial sectors. We have seen some drastic drops in business projections and losses of employment in our industry.”
Delgado Vallejo blames tariffs imposed on many products, which has led to fewer orders and manufacturing and thus, a need for truck deliveries.
“Considering what we’ve seen this year, a 15 percent increase is good but still insufficient due to what we’ve experienced this year,” he said.
Despite the upswing, there are still many challenges including the long border waits for truckers, Delgado Vallejo said.
“We’ve seen a lot of lows, hoping the surge will continue, but another obstacle remains, that is having to gain some English literacy for truckers as the United States government keeps insisting, if they don’t get a handle on their English, they won’t be able to drive, and that hurts all the industry,” he said.
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