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January 20, 2000 8:55 AM, EST

Mexican truckers believe they need five more years to get ready to compete with other North American truckers in hauling international freight.

“It is difficult to prepare ourselves to compete with the United States. We would ask for five more years,” Miguel Quintanilla, the president of Canacar, the Mexican trucking association, told Reuters news service Jan. 11. He said opening the borders to U.S. truckers could put Mexican firms out of business.

Mexican trucks average 16 years old. It will take more than $3 billion to renovate the fleet, Canacar said. By contrast, the U.S. has a fleet of 1.5 million vehicles with an average age of five years.

Canacar’s message stands in contrast to the Mexican government’s position, which contends that the U.S.-imposed delay in the NAFTA trucking provisions hurts trade and contravenes the treaty.

For the full story, see the Jan. 17 print edition of Transport Topics. .