Pharr International Bridge Sees Increase in Imports and Exports
PHARR, TX - Growth begets growth. This is what I’ve learned from observing Pharr International Bridge’s success over the past year. The industry partner continued to see an uptick in imports and exports throughout the holiday season, and recently announced that it received a Presidential permit to build a new bridge. Curious as to what kind of growth Pharr has seen in recent months, I got in touch with Luis Bazán, Bridge Director.
“We broke Southbound commercial traffic records in December 2020 by crossing almost 11,000 more commercial trucks than in December 2019, an increase of 24 percent. We are pending Northbound truck crossing data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), but are averaging over 2,600 trucks from Mexico to the U.S. on a daily basis, and our imports and exports have been growing by 5-6 percent on a month to month basis since the beginning of the current fiscal year, which started October 1, 2020,” Luis told me.
How much of this is made up of fresh produce, you ask? As one of Pharr’s top sectors for import and export, I was also eager to learn the answer.
“We started to see an upward trend in fresh produce shipments toward the end of the year,” Luis said. “Our top imports, as of 2019, include fresh avocados and berries.”
Pharr International Bridge reports that 96 percent of trade through Pharr, Texas, is from Mexico. The rest comes from China, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Germany, and many other parts of the world. According to Luis, the bridge is trading with at least 95–96 other countries.
Aiming to meet the steady increase in shipments, Pharr is implementing multiple new initiatives, including the construction of its new bridge.
“We are ‘Investing Big…For Faster Trade.’ We have several infrastructure projects under construction, and by the end of 2021, we plan to break ground on construction of our new bridge. We are strategically positioning ourselves for increased trade demand as we move forward with record-breaking growth into the future,” Luis explained. “Our infrastructure projects will augment our current facilities and expedite trade by increasing truck through-put, streamlining processes, maximizing efficiency, and reducing wait times.”
What’s next for Pharr International Bridge? Only time (and ANUK) will tell, so stay tuned.
