Less Than Truckload Carrier Streamlines Customs Procedures For Freight Shipments

US – CANADA - Con-way Freight, the less than truck load (LTL) subsidiary of logistics giant Con-way Incorporated, today announced it is fully operational with Canada Border Services Agency's (CBSA's) ‘eManifest ‘programme, providing full compliance capability for electronic border clearance under the government's new system for Canadian import cargo.

Con-way Freight say they fully support the CBSA's initiatives to improve security and transparency, and through eManifest, improve the efficiency of the border clearance process. The firm’s customs compliance manager, Melissa Mathew, saying:

"We have worked very closely with the CBSA to help bring this programme into implementation, and we are pleased to be an early adopter and among the first LTL trucking companies to go fully operational with eManifest."

eManifest, the third phase of the Advance Commercial Information (ACI) program, is an electronic data interchange (EDI) and information management programme under which the CBSA electronically receives product, shipper, consignee and carrier information for import shipments in a more complete and timely manner. The programme enables border officials to examine more complete and accurate information about shipments being imported to Canada, early in the process while goods are in transit. The new system is designed to help border services officers process shipments of commercial goods more efficiently and effectively, so that when they arrive at the border, clearance delays are minimized or eliminated, while security protocols are maintained and enhanced.

Con-way Freight has been collaborating with the CBSA on EDI-based information programs since 2003. The company's experience, as well as its strong relations with the customs broker community, enabled it to quickly transition to the eManifest program, helping more than 95 percent of Con-way Freight's customers' shipments to clear customs into Canada without issue.

Shippers who use eManifest-compliant carriers ultimately benefit from more timely and consistent transit times for goods moving into Canada. Con-way Freight, all of whose facilities in Canada are bonded warehouses, estimates that as eManifest becomes more fully utilized, its transit times into Canada could potentially accelerate by up to 25 percent.

Following formal registration and testing on the platform last fall, Con-way Freight took eManifest service into full commercial operation in January making the company one of the few LTL carriers to be fully compliant at this early date. The CBSA has set an 18-month deadline for adoption and implementation under which all highway carriers must be compliant and transmitting cargo and conveyance data electronically using the eManifest system.