New Meixco Port of Entry 

The Santa Teresa Port of Entry was created with the aim of relieving current congestion at the international bridge crossings in El Paso and Juarez. Negotiations for the creation of the border crossing at Santa Teresa, New Mexico/San Jeronimo, Chihuahua, Mexico were finalized in 1991 by a bilateral agreement between Mexico and the United States. The US Customs Agency began operations here in 1993, and in 1997 a $10 million border station, designed to be a model of efficiency for future border facilities, was completed. Private vehicle and commercial truck crossings have increased substantially since the port’s opening and are expected to expand now that direct highway access to Interstate 10 is completed in 2000. Open to non-commercial traffic from 6:00am to 10:00pm, and to commercial traffic from 8:00am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday and 8:00am to 2:00pm Saturday, the border crossing at Santa Teresa currently accommodates 27 US customs agents and oversees the crossing of over 9,400 vehicles each month.

FOREIGN-TRADE ZONE NO. 197: DONA ANA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO

The Santa Teresa Business Center falls within Foreign Trade Zone No. 197. Products brought into a foreign trade zone are afforded privileges with regard to US Customs policies that can result in dramatic operational cost savings. These privileges are summarized as follows:

A. Under the Foreign Trade Zones Act, foreign and domestic merchandise may be admitted into a foreign-trade zone without:
1.    1.     formal Customs entry
2.    2.     payment of Customs duties
3.    3.     general U.S. quota restrictions
4.    4.     payment of government excise taxes
5.    5. thorough examination

B. Merchandise brought into a foreign trade zone may be:
1.    1.     stored     9. manipulated
2.    2.     tested     10. mixed
3.    3.     cleaned     11. processed
4.    4.     sampled     12. assembled
5.    5.     relabeled     13. manufactured
6.    6.     repackaged    14. salvaged
7.    7.     displayed     15. destroyed
8.    8.     repaired     16. re-exported

C. If the merchandise is re-exported, no US Customs or excise tax is ever paid.

D. If the merchandise is imported into the US but outside of the foreign-trade zone, US Customs duties and excise tax are due at the time the merchandise is physically removed from the foreign trade zone.  The duty paid is at the rate of the finished product or imported parts, whichever is lower.

Importing merchandise into a foreign trade zone can offer many cost and logistical benefits including the following:
•     Imported merchandise can be stored for an indefinite time period and displayed for potential buyers, ensuring a sufficient quantity of marketable merchandise will be available for sale.
•     Imported merchandise can be counted, weighed, tested, repaired or destroyed prior to the payment of Customs duty, ensuring an accurately invoiced quantity of sellable merchandise is brought to market.

If imported merchandise will be subject to a quota, the merchandise can be manipulated or processed in such a manner so as to create a product not subject to a quota.

The UP/SP Railroad at the TRANSPORTATION DAC International Santa Teresa Business Center Airport in Santa Teresa
Because of Santa Teresa’s strategic location on the US/Mexico border, midway between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, companies located here are ideally positioned to reach the United States, western Canada and a large section of Latin America. For this reason, the area has served as a crossing point between what are now Mexico and the United States for the past 400 years.
Santa Teresa is bordered to the east by the city of El Paso, Texas, and to the south by the municipality of Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.  This unique geographic position provides Santa Teresa residents the advantages of a suburban US lifestyle while remaining close to the urban amenities of El Paso and the enormous industrial markets of Northern Mexico. 

Roads and Highways

Thanks to new road and highway construction on both sides of the international boundary, Santa Teresa is quickly becoming one of the most direct roadway accessible areas on the US/Mexico border.  On the Mexico side, completion in 1993 of a twelve-mile road connecting the border crossing to Mexico Federal Highway 2 (Casas Grandes highway) provided paved access from Santa Teresa to the southwestern quadrant of Juarez.  Widening the Casas Grandes Highway between Juarez and Santa Teresa is a priority for 2001.  On the US side, the State of New Mexico completed an eight-mile, four-lane beltway in 1997 (NM 136), which extends from the border crossing to the Texas state line.  The State of Texas, in turn, completed an additional three miles ofthe highway in 2000 that now provides direct, four-lane access between the Santa Teresa border crossing and Interstate 10.

New Mexico Highway 273 flanks the eastern side of Santa Teresa and connects the community to central and west El Paso via Sunland Park and La Union, New Mexico, respectively.  To the west, a 60-mile road connecting Santa Teresa to Columbus, New Mexico was completed in 1994.  Preliminary discussions have been held about extending this highway east to Sunland Park. 

Rail Service

Rail freight service in Santa Teresa is provided by the Union Pacific/Southern Pacific (UP/SP) railroad. Rail spurs currently run directly up to the loading docks of several manufacturing plants in the Santa Teresa Business Center and additional spurs can be constructed for businesses locating here.  Other railroads operating in the metropolitan area include the Santa Fe/Burlington Northern and the National Railway of Mexico.  

onstruction of Phase I of the Santa Teresa Intermodal Park will be completed in October 2001. The park will offer a bulk plastic rail terminal where rail cars can be off-loaded directly onto trucks.  Sites are now available for rail users.  

Air Service

The Doña Ana County International Airport in Santa Teresa receives an average of nine international landings per month and has provided airfreight support to southern New Mexico, since the early 1980s.  The non-commercial airport is owned and operated by the County, which leases land to firms for the construction of hangars and other facilities.  Of 300 acres available for lease, 25.8 acres are currently occupied. Approximately 80 jets, turbo-props, twin and single engine aircraft reside at the airport.  Funds have been appropriated to expand the runway up to 10,600 feet, which will allow the airport to accommodate aircraft up to and including 747’s.  The construction is to commence December 2001, with a completion date of August 2003.  The 8,500-foot runway is capable of handling general aviation aircraft and smaller freight aircraft up to 60,000 pounds. Currently, UPS is the only carrier utilizing the Santa Teresa airport.  However, once expansion is completed, it is anticipated that other major carriers will utilize the airport facilities. With the completion of the airport expansion, Santa Teresa will have a complete intermodal package offering air, rail, and ground transportation.

The El Paso and Juárez International Airports also serve the Santa Teresa area with commercial air service and additional airfreight support.  Six major commercial airlines including America West, American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, and Southwest Airlines, service the El Paso International Airport.  Aerolitoral and Aspen Air provide service between El Paso and Chihuahua, México.