U.S., Canada Agree to Truck Cargo Test That Could Accelerate Border Crossings

By Timothy Cama, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the March 25 print edition of Transport Topics.

United States and Canadian officials have agreed to launch a pilot program that they say could improve trade by allowing U.S.-bound trucks to be inspected on the Canadian side of the border at two crossing locations.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the top domestic security leaders from both countries, Canada will provide stations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to inspect trucks, with the first station planned for the Pacific Border Crossing, a major truck crossing connecting Blaine, Wash., and Surrey, British Columbia.

The March 14 agreement is part of the Beyond the Border Action Plan, a plan both countries signed in December 2011 in an effort to ease passenger and cargo movement between the countries. It is intended to speed the border-crossing process by expanding inspection capabilities.

“Our countries have made significant progress in implementing the initiatives of the Beyond the Border Action Plan,” Janet Napolitano, U.S. secretary of homeland security, said after signing the memorandum in Washington along with Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews.

Customs is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

“The implementation of the truck cargo pre-inspection pilot will aim to further enhance the economic and national security of both of our nations,” Napolitano said.

David Bradley, president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, welcomed the development.

“Being able to have primary inspections conducted on one side of the border, or what we used to call reverse inspection, could be of benefit at some land border crossings where efficient border clearance is impaired by geographic constraints on one side,” Bradley said in a statement. “So the signing of the MOU is very significant.”

Bradley said that since this program involves primary inspections and is not a prescreening program, it would not add a new inspection for truckers crossing the border.

“The pilot announced today will test the concept of conducting primary inspection of U.S.-bound truck cargo in Canada in order to better manage our shared border and improve economic opportunities for Canadian manufacturers and their U.S.-based supply chain partners,” Toews said in a statement.

The inspection station in Surrey will be the first phase of the pilot program, according to Public Safety Canada, which was created in 2003 to ensure coordination across all federal departments and agencies responsible for national security and the safety of Canadians.

In the second phase, Customs will operate a truck inspection facility in Fort Erie, Ontario, across the Peace Bridge from Buffalo, N.Y.

The Pacific Border Crossing was the fourth busiest port of entry for trucks along the U.S.-Canada border in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, according to Customs. The Peace Bridge was the second busiest truck crossing that year, behind Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge.

Neither government announced a timeline for the project.

U.S. officials are also working to establish facilities to inspect U.S.-bound cargo along the Mexican border. One such facility has been completed in Tijuana, Mexico, at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, though Customs has not announced an opening date for it.

The Tijuana facility will enable U.S. and Mexican enforcement officials to complete both the import and export inspections for trucks heading to the United States. Initially, it will only handle perishable agricultural goods.

Mexico already operates a preclearance facility for Mexico-bound air cargo at the Laredo International Airport in Texas, and Customs is planning a preclearance trade zone near Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.