Considering a Dedicated Run into Canada

Biggest difference is logs. 36 hour restart no matter where it is taken. Mandatory 24 straight hours off every 14 days. Canadian log book needed with beginning and ending mileage, licence plate numbers, cycle, etc..

Getting across the border can take seconds or hours depending on day of week and time of day.

 

I worked in the US office of a French Canadian Carrier. A US based driver can use his US logbook and follow the US HOS in Canada. A dedicated run over and back every day will, most likely, use a PARRS barcode for clearance.

You take the customs declaration page and stick a barcode on it and make two copies. You [or the shipper] then faxes one copy to the customs broker along w/ your ETA to the border.

When you reach Canadian Customs you pull thru to the last barrier and hand one barcoded copy to the inspector. If the broker did their job [they do 99.999999% of the time] the reader accepts your barcode and the inspector tells you to have a nice day in Canada...it is slicker than goose poop!

Your entry to Canada can be tougher. I'm not sure what is up since they now require a passport [or passport card] to visit Canada. Used to be that every so often immigration would check every truck driver for a 24 hour period. They always managed to catch one of our guys over some past sin that no one though would be a problem.

A DUI is considered the Canadian equivalent of a Felony and you can be denied entrance into Canada. Most hunting boards have a thread on this happening to guys on their way in for a hunting trip..

If the man ever asks 'were you ever arrested' you need to respond with the truth! Doesn't matter how old or how simple the charge, he will be reading it in his computer...If you say no and he sees different, you won't be going over the border.

Your backhaul also needs a 'inward cargo manifest', a form you have to make out and give to US customs. Most of the broker offices in between Canadian & US customs will have tablets of them free...the 'Master of the Vessel' has to fill it out b/4 approaching US customs...kinda tells you how old this form is!

We used to get a midwest O/O in, sign him up in NJ and have one of our company guys explain the barcodes & inward manifest. Then we we would give him a sheet of barcodes & broker phone/fax numbers & sent him off to Toronto & they would load him back towards home.

They never had any problems 'cept getting their head around the difference in money. Back then the US dollar was worth alot more and that guy would run out from our Toronto terminal to Burger King, order a whopper, fries, and a shake and give a US twenty to the girl and she would hand him a Cannuck twenty as his change!

 

OK, so there is some good info here. Some REALLY old info as well.

1. You MUST have a 36 hour reset. Your 34 hour reset in the US is NOT valid in Canada. Therefore you have NO reset according to Canadian HOS.

2. You MUST run according to Canadian HOS regs. Not US regs. Your regs are worthless in Canada.

3. Inbound to Canada gets a PARS sticker. Outbound gets a PAPS sticker and an ACE manifest. The ACE is a requirement of US Customs. The ACE does speed things up since it is more or less pre-cleared.

4. DO NOT under any circumstances approach EITHER border without checking with the Customs broker for the load to ensure that not only has Customs received it but also they have CLEARED it. Give the Brokers at least 2 hours to do their job. Some require 4 or more. Automotive JIT loads are a different beast all together.

5. DO NOT carry ANY weapons in your truck into Canada. You are crossing an International border, remember that. Until our governments get their Cranial Rectal Insertion issues resolved then the borders can be a pain.

6. Inward cargo manifests are rarely used anymore. I carry a book for them but do not use them.

7. Just as the US requires passports from Canadians we require the same of the US. That was at least one thing our respective border organizations agreed on.

8. You do not need a specifically Canadian log book. You do need to fill out some more info on it though.

9. You must have a "Schedule 1" form in your possession. Canadian log books include them in the front automatically. You can easily print one out and keep it with the truck documents. It lists all of the Major/Minor defect classes for a PTI.

10. DUI is a "felony" in Canada as it should be everywhere. It is a serious offence. Any Felony will usually get you turned back or becoming a guest of Customs for a while.

11. Do not lie to ANY border officer, Canadian or US. They have more access to info now than ever before.

12. Use the "don't ask, don't tell" rule. If they don't ask, you don't tell. Answer questions politely and refer to them as either Sir or Ma'am.

13. 24 hours off every 14 days is correct. If you reset (36 hours) any time within those 2 weeks you are fine. I have had numerous CVE officers check my logs looking to ensure this was followed. This is where running a recap makes life MUCH easier. They look at the recap, find what they want, skip to the day in the logs to verify, off you go.

 

Sounds like a great summertime job! Like the other posters said, you never know how long you will be tied up at the border. Not usually a problem for frequent crossers though. Personally I would take the gig, "sounds" like a good deal. Good luck to you!


p.s. you will need a passport!

 

Or a FAST card.