hauling to Canada - what do I need ?

As in O/O criteria, personal, etc?

 

As a driver, all you will need is a passport card, or passport. And you must have a clean criminal record. Many things we consider down here to be minor misdemeanor offenses will get you barred from entering Canada. Even some moving violations on your driving record can trip you up going up there.

 

There is also a new thing for driving to Canada. It is called an E-Manifest. Are you an O/O with your own authority or leased to a company. theres several things that you will need in place before taking a load up there. Once you have them then its less of a pain.

 

E-manifest will take you a while to get it set up. You know how everyone has a SCAC code (I think that's the proper term) ? We all have Carrier Code's for getting into Canada. You will, after that is granted, need to get PARS stickers ordered through any of the many online sticker-makers. Then after that is done you will need to apply to be able to use the E-manifest portal. They are very backed up with carriers waiting til the last minute to register to use that. It is easiest to use an agent to have them setup your border crossing ACI paperwork. It is a heck of a lot of crap to go through if you are only going to do a few loads. There is no other way around it. That is before even getting into the authority part of it ......

 

As for the authority part, you will have to apply for either a CVOR or a National Safert Code certificate. You will need to choose a "base province" where you will conduct your authority stuff through, just like wherever your home base state is. As soon as you have that certificate and your cab card is updated showing where you are good to go, you are GOOD! If you are going to do BC, they also have some extra fee for "financial responsibility" or some bulls...... It was about $125, one time fee I believe. If you want to do Ontario and Quebec all you need to remember is the cops are nazis here, and will most likely check right up your backside to make sure you are legit, simply because you have american plates. They will also look for your truck to be cut back to 65 mph in the ECM. There is a way around this but don't get caught speeding here. Use only as absolutely necessary. Your IFTA and all that is good just the same way you are doing it now and is still paid to the same base state you are paying it to now.

You should also familiarize yourself with the canadian HOS. It really is a better system ... 70 hours in 7 days, 16 hour window from start time, 14 of which can be on duty, 13 of which can be driving. You may take a 2 hour nap or off duty time during the day and then 8 hours consecutive off for your night sleep. You can do it every day if you like. Also, once per 7 days, you must show 24 hours consecutive off duty or sleeper. (the only kind of dumb part) Our resets are 36 hours not 34. Something to keep in mind, if they catch you with a false log, the timeout is 72 hours, and many scales are nowhere near civilization.

If you would like more info about the border and authority part, PM me and I can send you the contacts I use to keep my authority straight and do my border paperwork for me.

 

Good post...

The one that is so easy to catch Americans on is we require 14 days logs with the driver, rather than seven as in the U.S.

 

The easily forgotten necessities of hauling into Canada...

1. a truck to do the pulling.

2. a trailer to do the hauling.

3. freight that needs to be hauled.


HA! I kill me! (hopefully before someone else does the job for me!)

 

Yep thanks sorry forgot that one.