CABOTAGE???

Do you have a reference for this?

 

(1) The vehicle may carry merchandise or passengers between points in the United States if such carriage is incidental to the immediately prior or subsequent engagement of that vehicle in international traffic. Any such carriage by the vehicle in the general direction of an export move or as part of the return of the vehicle to its base country shall be considered incidental to its engagement in international traffic. An alien driver will not be permitted to operate a vehicle under this paragraph, unless the driver is in compliance with the applicable regulations of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Apparently the vehicle can but the driver can't ,SORRY

 

Are You in Compliance with Canadian Cabotage Laws?

 

Not just the driver, equipment too. Our Minneapolis terminal kept using Canada plated trailers for local deliveries. We warned them, got condescension from them. The trailer has the company name on it, we’re using it was the attitude. A smart dot officer noticed the Canada flag and Alberta plate, stopped them down the street. 25 grand later, they did it the next day. 25 grand later, they finally figured it out.

 

Well, I just had to prove where I picked up my In Bond Meat load, to both the Sheridan WY POE and Bosie City OK scale. Lightspeed was caught, with a load originating in Ohio delivering in Dallas. They claimed to have a “Canadian BOL” they are now in prison lol.

I also asked about picking up in bond export loads in the US, to deliver them to ports for export (which some BC companies believe is legal) Apparently that has been resolved by some court case in California and is illegal; they did not provide references.

The joys of having BC plates lol.

 

Part of the problem lies in the US documents. There is newer documentation that clarifies it better, but certainly in the not-too-distant past there was a fair amount of ambiguity. Customs regulations--which are what most people were focused on--stated that certain moves are okay. Immigration regulations, which tended to be downplayed in the industry-focused documents, weren't exactly clear and had clear contradictions to the customs ones. So, carriers would default to that which served them best... customs rules.

On top of that you have the fact that very few people read the actual regulations and tend to rely on industry consultants, observers, or their "experienced" personnel... and those are the people in charge. So when it gets to the average driver they are poorly equipped to challenge any direction from their carrier.