Since El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama have set a 72-hour time limit for freight drivers operating in the region, hundreds of units have decided to halt their operations as a measure of pressure.

Due to the health crisis resulting from the covid-19 outbreak, Salvadoran, Costa Rican and Panamanian authorities decided that the drivers of the cargo transport units entering the country will have only 72 hours to make the formalities at the borders, and to unload and reload the goods from the vehicles.

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According to businessmen, at least 10 days are needed to carry out the whole process. As a response to this restriction, it is reported that hundreds of units are stranded in Costa Rican and Panamanian territory, as a measure to pressure governments to make the measures more flexible.

Hector Fajardo, general director of the Central American Transporters’ Chamber (Catransca) and a director of the Central American Transport Federation (Fecatrans), told Prensalibre.com that “… The protests of the transporters will trigger a shortage at a regional level, because there will be no mobility in the logistic part of the transport and it will impact the supply’. In addition, Costa Rica established a $500 fine for anyone who does not comply with the measure, and they are asking that the truck be nationalized, which implies high costs.”

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A statement from Fecatrans details that most countries and business chambers are not in agreement with the measure, since far from helping to reactivate the economy, it deepens the paralysis and threatens to cause shortages.

Adan Aquino, president of the company Transportes Los Andes, explained that “… The transporters who go into Costa Rican territory to make deliveries are returning empty, because it is definitely impossible to unload, load, process exports and leave their territory in just 72 hours.”

Raul Alfaro, president of the Salvadoran Association of International Cargo Carriers (ASTIC), said that “… before Costa Rica allowed foreign vehicles to stay up to 30 days in its territory, but after the restriction, it only allows 72 hours. If this period is exceeded, a fine of $500 must be paid and the vehicle must be brought into the country. What does an immigration measure have to do with a purely customs one? Some trucks have to wait up to eight days in Costa Rica to be unloaded.”

Fecatrans’ request is that the administrative decision be repealed immediately and that a reasonable period of time be granted.

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