Cabotage rules for Canada–U.S. trucking
What Canadian carriers and drivers may haul inside the U.S., what U.S. carriers may haul inside Canada, and where customs and immigration rules draw the line.
Blog
How LTL freight class, truck detention and drayage charges work, and how to run a group of trucking companies on one TMS or several.
What Canadian carriers and drivers may haul inside the U.S., what U.S. carriers may haul inside Canada, and where customs and immigration rules draw the line.
When cross-docking pays for a brokerage: rate cards, late inbounds, load plans, short and damaged pallets, and a day too long on the floor, with worked numbers.
Canada has no DOT number. Carriers get an NSC number from their base province: a CVOR in Ontario, an NIR in Quebec, plus a USDOT number for U.S. runs.
Who needs a certified ELD in Canada, the exemptions, the hours it enforces, revoked devices, each province's dates and what changes at the U.S. border.
What FSMA's Sanitary Transportation rule asks of reefer carriers, shippers and receivers: operating temperatures, pre-cooling, procedures, training and records.
Which province's GST/HST applies to a freight service, when QST applies, when cross-border freight is zero-rated, and what a carrier's invoice must show.
Which exchange rate to use on a USD freight invoice, GST/HST on foreign-currency amounts, realized FX gains and losses, and driver and carrier settlements.
Who files ACE and ACI eManifests, what data goes in, how far ahead, PAPS and PARS numbers, the errors that stop trucks at the border and the penalties.
What a carrier that also brokers freight needs from one TMS: one board for its trucks and outside carriers, separate authority and books, margin by division.
How a group of carriers and brokerages keeps separate books, shares customers and records intercompany loads, whether it runs on one TMS or several.
Who charges demurrage, per diem and detention on a container, when each clock starts and stops, and a worked import example with every charge computed.
How detention time is measured (ELD, geofence and dock timestamps against the appointment), free time, billing without disputes and the driver's share.
Since July 19, 2025, most LTL freight is classed by density on a 13-step NMFC scale. How to measure it, what it means for quotes, and how to avoid reweighs.