LAREDO, Texas – The World Trade Bridge was back at 100 percent almost exactly three months after a storm paralyzed international trade for three days in May.
Alberto Flores, deputy director for the Port of Laredo, was among the first to get there on May 21, arriving within an hour after a microburst of wind and rain struck the World Trade Bridge, a main commercial artery connecting the U.S. and Mexico.
“It was total devastation,” Flores said.
He said thankfully it occurred on a Sunday after the facility, on a modified weekend schedule, had already closed and only a couple of security people were on site.
Flores said although the bridge usually carries 14,000 trucks coming and going across the Rio Grande during the week, none ended up in the river. He said the Mexican side took the brunt of the damage, going from 15 lanes to only four.
“Roofs were blown off. The secondary inspection site was totally disabled,” Flores said.
On the U.S. side, he said nine of the 14 large air-conditioning units on top of the administrative building were torn off. Yet there was only minimal damage to its primary booths.
Flores said as a result, once power was restored, they were able to incrementally bring back the shipments that rely on the World Trade Bridge.
He said its existing business-resumption plan had been a tabletop exercise until then. It called for rerouting thousands of trucks a few miles away to the smaller Colombia Solidarity Bridge, which only has half the capacity.
Flores said trucks were backed up for miles on both sides of the river. To relieve the traffic, empty trucks were the first to return to the World Trade Bridge, followed by the trusted shippers that are precleared.
Flores said 72 hours later, they were back to 50 percent, leaving the riskier shipments that needed further inspection at Colombia Solidarity.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports the World Trade Bridge is back to business as usual.
“All these trucks that come through this port touch every single state in the U.S., even Canada,” Flores said.
He said for a facility like the World Trade Bridge to be at a standstill even for three days, “You can imagine the ripple effect it had.”
Henry Gonzalez, president of the Laredo Licensed U.S. Customs Brokers Association, said forwarding agencies like his, which handle cross-border shipments, were bombarded with calls from clients across the country.
“Big companies asking, 'What’s going on. Is my merchandise going to cross?’” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said it was affecting production.
Brad Skinner, CBP assistant director of trade, said other ports of entry are asking how the Port of Laredo was able to resume operation. Skinner said having a second international bridge certainly helped.
He said otherwise, “It would have been that much more of a challenge.”
