Devalued Peso Slows Truck Traffic to Mexico : Trade: A Fed bank reports an 18% quarterly drop at the busiest U.S. border crossing.

Slowed sharply by Mexico’s peso devaluation, truck traffic heading south over the busiest U.S. border crossing in the first quarter fell 18% from year-ago levels and stood well below the totals that prevailed before the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The decline, detailed in a report to be published soon by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, reflects the severe shock that the Dec. 20 devaluation has dealt the U.S.-Mexico border economy and correlates with a sharp rise in unemployment along the border.

Truck crossings from January through March at Laredo, Tex., where an estimated 60% of all U.S. land cargo crosses in and out of Mexico, were 10% below the comparable period in 1993 before NAFTA spurred trade between the two countries.

The first-quarter figures suggest a continuation of U.S.-Mexico trade patterns recorded in January and February, which showed tumbling exports to Mexico and rising imports from the country.

The devalued peso has made U.S. goods unaffordable for many Mexican consumers, reducing the demand for transportation services provided by truckers, said Fiona Sigalla, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

“The decline in truck traffic has cut demand for many of the types of border services that help people trade, from the exporting firms that file customs papers to brokers, warehousing firms and some of the retailing as well. That has meant a loss of jobs,” Sigalla said.

The loss of business among service firms and retailers who cater to Mexican shoppers has caused unemployment claims in Laredo to double since December, Sigalla said.

According to the Dallas Fed bank’s report, southbound truck crossings into Mexico at Laredo totaled 104,000 for the first three months of the year, down from 126,700 in 1994 and 115,000 in 1993 during the same period. Northbound truck traffic from Mexico is up from last year, but “not as significantly as the drop in southbound traffic,” Sigalla said.

Ruben Capaletti, manager of Mexico operations at CF Motorfreight in Houston, a major U.S. trucker into Mexico, said his southbound traffic was off 15% to 20% from last year because demand for U.S. consumer goods is down.

But solid growth in CF Motorfreight’s northbound shipments compensates for the loss, he said.