Trucks loaded with perishable produce from Mexico will soon find open gates and customs personnel on duty on Sundays at the Mariposa Port of Entry.

Freight trucks enter first leg of commercial crossing at Mariposa Port of Entry where they are processed through the Free and Secure Trade lanes if the shipping companies qualify or through more rigorous regular inspection lanes.

Huddled together against a brisk wind on Thursday, U.S. and Mexican Customs officials met with representatives of the local produce industry to set the hours and dates of the Sunday crossings.

"The law requires us to open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m." on Sundays during the peak produce season, said Patricio Arturo Elizondo Leon, a Mexican Customs sub-administrator.

After Conchita Singh of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas brought out a chart that showed the heavy Sunday traffic last winter and spring, Elizondo agreed to extend the hours.

Mexican Customs will open from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Sunday from Jan. 13 through April 6, except for Easter Sunday, March 23. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will also open at 9 a.m. on those Sundays, but will close at 3 p.m.

Trucks en route from fields in Sonora and Sinaloa can be delayed at checkpoints in Mexico, where the army searches for hidden drugs and weapons. If a truck arrives at the Mariposa Port after hours on Saturday, it must sit idle until Monday morning while the vegetables or fruit languish inside.

"Fruit at rest is fruit at risk," said Bert Monteverde of H.M. Distributing in Rio Rico, quoting a maxim in the industry.

Trucks parked on Sundays create a logjam at the border crossing on Monday mornings, said Terry Shannon Jr., chairman of the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority. "When they're open on Sundays, they are able to alleviate some of the backlog."

CBP Port Director James Tong believes the expense of staff working on Sunday pays off for Nogales. "It does assist the trade here and gives the county an economic boost."

Sunday crossings will allow produce distributors to fulfill just-in-time orders for large retail customers across the United States, according to Allison Moore, communications director of the FPAA. She estimated that FPAA members alone would cross 120 to 150 trucks each Sunday. Trucks bound for other large distributors would bring the total to about 300 vehicles on Sundays.

"We're the largest produce-importing port in the nation by number of shipments," said Tracy Encinas, chief of agricultural operations for CBP. During peak produce season, 1,200 to 1,600 trucks a day roll through the Mariposa Port of Entry and the number is growing.

The Mariposa POE was designed to process about 500 commercial truck crossings per day, Encinas said.

"We need a larger footprint," she said. Encinas credited the port authority for working to get federal funding to redesign the port.

A new facility has been designed and should be completed by 2012 to handle increasing traffic, Shannon said.