A motor carrier domiciled in Chihuahua, Mexico, by the name of GCC has not properly disclosed its affiliations in an application to become a cross-border carrier, research by OOIDA has revealed. The Association filed an official protest of GCC’s entry into the cross-border trucking program on Friday, Aug. 3.

In a letter to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne Ferro, OOIDA President Jim Johnston urged the FMCSA to deny the application of GCC Transporte S.A. DE C.V. based on several factors.

“I am prepared to show that GCC is not a fit applicant and should not be allowed to operate in the United States,” Johnston wrote.

As part of the application process, a Mexican carrier seeking entry into the cross-border program is required to disclose affiliations or relationships with carriers registered with the FMCSA in the past three years. GCC stated in the application that its affiliations were not available, or “N/A.”

“OOIDA has identified as many as five registered motor carriers who appear to be affiliated with GCC through its parent company,” Johnston wrote.

GCC is affiliated with Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, which is its parent company, according to the FMCSA’s SAFER program, which stands for Safety and Fitness Electronic Records. Affiliate names and addresses associated with GCC match in various categories, according to the OOIDA research.

Incomplete applications are to be rejected from the program, while any willful misstatements or omission of material facts are punishable by imprisonment, OOIDA points out.

Johnston also points to GCC’s safety history as criteria for rejection, citing high numbers of driver and equipment violations. One of the possible affiliates even has substandard compliance according to FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety and Accountability records.

The letter goes on to point out possible unequal application of the North American Out-Of-Service Criteria established by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and endorsed by the FMCSA. According to the OOS criteria, drivers who do not comply with 391.11(b)(2) and cannot read or speak English sufficiently to converse with the general public are to be put out of service. The letter notes that GCC has 51 violations of that regulation, yet not all of those drivers were placed out of service.

In addition, the GCC listed in the application has never operated beyond the commercial zone on the U.S. side of the border. OOIDA questions why such a carrier would need long-haul authority in the U.S. and asks what steps the transportation secretary has taken to address domestic point-to-point shipments otherwise known as cabotage.