ACE and ACI eManifest for highway carriers

Every commercial truck that crosses the Canada–U.S. border needs an electronic manifest filed before it arrives: ACE eManifest with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or ACI eManifest with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The carrier files the trip. The customs broker files the release against the same shipment number. Both sides have a clock that runs back from the truck's arrival at the border, and both treat vague or wrong data as a violation, not a typo.

This article uses the loads from our cross-border page: load 48213, Mississauga ON to Joliet IL over the Blue Water Bridge, and load 48226, Brampton ON to Cleveland OH over the Ambassador Bridge. Both are run by Ashgrove Freight, a Canadian carrier.

Who files what at the border?

On the U.S. side, the ACE e-Manifest: Trucks guide puts the manifest on the carrier, filed through the ACE portal or tested EDI software. CBP's commercial truck manifest flyer adds that brokers and forwarders who self-file house bills "are held to the same standard as carriers." On the Canadian side, Memorandum D3-4-2 says cargo data must be transmitted "by the carrier, or a service provider authorized by that carrier."

How far ahead must the eManifest arrive?

The U.S. times come from CBP's flyer and the ACE guide. The Canadian ones come from D3-4-2 and CBSA's highway carrier compliance page.

Load 48213 shows how much margin a good process leaves. Its ACE eManifest was accepted at 05:12 on Tuesday, and the truck reached the Blue Water Bridge at 08:50: 3 hours 38 minutes ahead, against the 30 minutes a FAST shipment needs or the standard hour. The one-hour clock is not the target. It's the last moment before the violation.

What data goes into the eManifest?

Both manifests describe two things: the trip (truck, trailer, driver) and each shipment on board.

ACE, into the U.S. CBP's flyer lists the shipment data: the carrier's SCAC, container and seal numbers, the foreign location where the cargo was taken over, the arrival date and time at the first U.S. port, total quantity, a precise cargo description or 6-digit HTS code, and the shipper's and consignee's names and full addresses. The ACE guide adds the trip: the conveyance (identified by VIN, with its plates), the equipment such as trailers, and the driver and crew. A FAST driver can only be added by FAST card number; other drivers need an enhanced driver's licence or another WHTI-compliant travel document.

ACI, into Canada. CBSA's highway requirements split it into a conveyance document (a conveyance reference number, the first port of arrival, the estimated arrival time, the tractor and trailer with licence plates, and the cargo control numbers of every shipment aboard) and a cargo document for each shipment (cargo control number, ports, a plain-language description, shipper, consignee, quantity, packaging and marks). If in-bond goods are sealed, the seal number must be transmitted correctly.

Almost every one of those fields already exists on a load. Here is 48213:

What are PAPS and PARS?

They're the numbers that tie the carrier's manifest to the broker's release, so the officer at the booth sees both.

• PAPS (U.S.) is the carrier's four-character SCAC plus a unique identifier of up to 12 characters, 16 in total, printed as a barcode on the paperwork (CBP truck FAQ). The broker enters the same number in the entry. ASHG0048213 is SCAC ASHG plus the load number: 11 characters, unique as long as load numbers are.
• PARS (Canada) is a release option that can be sent before or after arrival. The cargo control number starts with the carrier's CBSA carrier code, followed by a shipment number the carrier chooses; it runs 5 to 25 characters and can't repeat within three years. The word "PARS" must appear on the barcode label (CBSA). If the PARS is released at the first port, the officer stamps the documentation as proof of report and release (D3-4-2).

R. Diaz's backhaul, 48233 from Elwood IL to Mississauga ON for Northgate Home, is the Canadian case: the ACI trip lists its cargo control number, and the broker's PARS release uses the same one. Building both numbers from the load number, as 48213's PAPS does, means nobody invents them at the dock.

What goes wrong at the border?

Most holds trace back to data, not to the truck. The errors both agencies name:

• Late data. CBSA lists "not submitting data 1 hour before arrival" among its examples of incorrect data.
• Vague descriptions. CBP won't accept "freight of all kinds" (FAK), "general cargo" or "said to contain" (STC). CBSA flags "unclear descriptions of your cargo."
• The wrong quantity. CBP counts the smallest external packaging unit: 2 pallets of 50 pieces each is 100, not 2. If 48213's 26 pallets are shrink-wrapped cartons, the manifest quantity is the carton count.
• Wrong parties. A shipper listed as "various," or the carrier listed as the shipper, is an error on CBP's list.
• Wrong plates. CBSA names invalid tractor or trailer licence plates. On 48213, the plates are checked against the manifest at pickup.
• A changed crossing. CBSA says drivers can't switch to another port of entry without updating the ACI first. ACE data carries the first U.S. port and arrival time, so a new crossing means a new check.
• A moving ETA. Into Canada, the conveyance report must change if the truck will arrive 30 minutes or more early, or 8 hours or more late (CBSA).

Load 48226 is the ETA case. A snow squall on the 401 near Tilbury ON pushed its arrival in Cleveland from 14:30 to 16:10 ET, with 30 minutes planned at the Ambassador Bridge. A later arrival only adds lead time to a U.S. manifest already sent. Had the same 1 hour 40 minute slip happened to a Canada-bound truck, it would sit inside CBSA's 8-hour window, and no change would be due; a truck running 30 minutes early would need one.

What are the penalties?

U.S. CBP says manifest violations, "including failure to file a manifest, incorrect manifest information, overages, and shortages," may lead to "penalties and liquidated damages, holds for examination, or seizure" (CBP).

Canada. CBSA's Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) sets amounts per contravention, in Canadian dollars:

For C379 and C381, a 30-day delay applies before a client moves from the first level to the second. CBSA also warns that post-arrival corrections on form BSF673 "should not be used to avoid penalties."

How should a TMS hold the data so the manifest isn't retyped?

The rule is one record per load, with every border field on it, from the moment the load is booked:

• Shipment numbers from the load. PAPS and PARS numbers are built from the carrier code and the load number, so they're unique and never typed at the dock.
• Descriptions from the shipper's commercial invoice, not the freight bill, and quantities in the smallest external packaging unit.
• Trip data from the unit record. Tractor, trailer, plates and seal come from the assignment, and a trailer swap updates the manifest data.
• Driver documents with expiry dates. A. Brandt's FAST card expires on November 3, so a plan that sends him across after that date is a flag, not a surprise at the booth.
• The crossing as a field, so moving 48213 from the Blue Water Bridge to the Ambassador Bridge prompts a resend instead of a phone call.
• The broker's confirmation on the load, so dispatch knows before pickup that the release is ready.

Roadmark's part is narrower, and the cross-border page states it plainly. Roadmark builds the PARS or PAPS number, the ACE or ACI eManifest data and the commercial invoice packet from the load itself, and a person approves the broker packet before it's sent. On 48213, the eManifest was sent through Ashgrove Freight's eManifest provider, and Northshore Customs Brokers confirmed release three minutes after it was accepted. Filing a customs entry is a licensed customs broker's job: nothing is filed with CBP or CBSA from Roadmark. The same page shows the whole border checklist for 48213, from booking to clearing U.S. Customs at Port Huron.