Statement on closures impacting CA goods movement

The following statement can be attributed to Rachel Michelin, President and CEO of the California Retailers Association.

“The California Retailers Association joins Union Pacific Railroad in urging the Eagle Pass and El Paso border crossings be reopened immediately.

These locations represent 45% of cross border Union Pacific Railroad business and include goods critical to the U.S. economy, and California consumers, and there is not enough capacity at other gateways to reroute them.

With Christmas and the New Year’s holidays just days away, the California Retailers Association is collaborating with Union Pacific Railroad in communicating to multiple government agencies, urging that the crossings closed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection be reopened.

Every day the border is closed, Union Pacific Railroad is forced to embargo customers’ goods on more than 60 trains, or nearly 4,500 rail cars. The California Retailers Association is confident Union Pacific Railroad is doing everything possible to stage trains and work with customers to prevent congestion at the border, but the longer this closure is in effect, the more difficult it will be for cross-border trade to resume.”