CABOTAGE???

I think you're right to be nervous about that situation............

 

Run away!

I'm guessing the claimed "Canadian BOL" is an attempt to circumvent the rules by way of "...transport cargo traveling in the stream of international commerce..." and/or an interpretation of the use of relay drivers and "...the domestic portion of the trip is a necessary incident to the international nature of the trip."

(GUIDELINES FOR COMPLIANCE OF COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES (CMV) AND CMV DRIVERS ENGAGED IN CROSS-BORDER TRAFFIC)

I expect they're going to have a rude awakening at some point.

 

[QUOTE=" "...the domestic portion of the trip is a necessary incident to the international nature of the trip."[/QUOTE]

They drive out of Manitoba, which constitutes the domestic portion

 

The quote refers to the relay of a trailer only domestically in the US by a driver from Canada or Mexico, so not as you're suggesting.

According to the OP, the trucks are entering the US empty, picking up a load in the US and delivering in the US, so that's a no-go.

In simple terms (from the same document):

Drivers may not pick up a shipment at one U.S. location and deliver that shipment to another U.S. location.​

There are some very rare exceptions, but that's the gist of it.

 

Totally illegal.

 

I'm pretty sure there's a loop hole they're exploiting which puts the practice into gray area

 

I did some cabotage in the past, but that is 101% illegal. I heard the fine for companies is up to 250K if caught even just for a first time offense. Left a good paying company because of that.

They probably use drivers who don't know it's illegal, there's no way the company doesn't know it's illegal.

 

No its straight up Illegal, the whole "Canadian BOL" thing is a ploy, for uninformed drivers to get sucked in.

I'm with a well known reefer company out west, we get approached to do loads like this daily. Some of the companies who bid against us, openly offer cabotage to reposition their trucks, into better lanes for north bound freight; after delivering.

This is leading to A L O T of questions at the border for Reefer guys, IE "So you delivered and went to pick up this load you have now?" "Is this the same trailer you went down with?" "did you take anything between your delivery and reload?" "why did it take you as many days as it did, to complete this trip? did you make any other trips during this time".

PAIN IN THE ###!

 

You are correct, an LTL company I worked for, recently had 2 drivers get caught for Cabotage. They totally blamed the drivers and dispatcher. Both drivers lost their Class 1 and are banned from the US. The dispatcher was charged, the company was fined also; I don't know the amounts. Its happening more and more, as companies get desperate for north bound freight.