DETROIT (AP) Area businesses are trying to cope with increased delays brought about by heightened border security in wake of the recent terrorist attacks.

Lou Borrelli is vice president of a family-owned food importer in Windsor, Ontario, but now he"s driving trucks to make sure his clients on the other side of the border get their deliveries.

"I"m having a hard time finding drivers willing to wait in this backup," he said while his Borrelli Importers vehicle inched toward the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel on Friday. "But as a business owner, I have to do what I have to do to keep the business operating."

Jim Fredette, operations manager for the Detroit & Canada Tunnel Corp., carried coffee to Borrelli and other motorists frustrated by lengthy delays at the gateway to the United States.

More than 40 percent of the $1 billion in daily trade between the United States and Canada comes through the border between Michigan and Ontario.

A survey of more than 1,800 Detroit Regional Chamber members showed that 29 percent have been financially hurt by border delays. Of those, more than 50 percent said the effects have been severe, according to the survey released Friday.

Effects of the delays trickle down to City Steel, which employs 32 people. The Detroit company has about 50 trucks coming or going in any given day, with about one-third passing through the Canadian border.

City Steel President Terry Boyette said the same number of trucks have been showing up. But the truck flow has changed as drivers attempt to avoid peak border crossing times, and their new schedules add to his costs.

"Some of my employees have to work overtime now," Boyette told The Detroit News for a story yesterday.

Canadian nurses and other health car providers who commute to Detroit-area hospitals have experienced longer delays at the border crossings. Some workers have reported delays of up to six hours to cross.

Since then, the Detroit Medical Center has set up a daily shuttle service for its 700 Canadian-based employees, 70 percent of whom are nurses.

Todd Spencer, an executive for a Missouri-based truckers" group known as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said he has long felt too many people cross from Canada with questionable papers. He said he was happy about the extra security.

"If it takes longer to do the job, then we"re going to live with it," he said. On the up side, delays seem to be decreasing.

It took Borrelli about 90 minutes to reach the tunnel Friday morning, compared to the 12-hour delay he experienced the week of the attacks.

Ford Motor Co., whose Windsor operations provide major parts to eigh t of its 15 U.S. plants, idled several factories because of parts shortages the week of the attack. Ford will return to its regular production schedule this week.

Partial credit for the improvements go to temporary workers from the National Guard and local police departments. The border crossings were previously staffed only by U.S. Customs and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The 15,000-member Detroit Regional Chamber is urging President Bush to use some of his $40 billion emergency aid package to immediately beef up Customs and INS staffing at the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit Windsor Tunnel.

The entry points are among the most understaffed in the nation in terms of the number of INS inspectors assigned there, according to a U.S. Senate appropriations subcommittee report.

Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer said at least 150 more immigration agents are needed.