MONCTON, N.B. – The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association together with the Atlantic Canada Food Export Partnership recently presented a series of one-day seminars on the challenges faced by exporters and truckers when it comes to shipping to the U.S.

The seminars were specifically designed to help truckers and food exporters deal with transborder shipments more efficiently and to reduce slow-downs at the border.

Stricter border security regulations require greater collaboration among supply chain partners in order to ensure a smooth crossing, said APTA president Ralph Boyd.

“These seminars are an excellent opportunity to bring shippers and carriers together to interact with each other, especially since we have never been able to do so in the past. It’s imperative that we discuss each other’s responsibilities, limitations and challenges,” Boyd said.

The seminars took place in Charlottetown, P.E.I. on Feb. 2; Halifax, N.S. on Feb 3 and Fredericton, N.B. on Feb 4.

“It was really a follow up to make sure everybody is on board and understanding the new bio-terrorism act and the FDA regulations and their place within these processes,” said Tracey Allen, marketing and technology consultant for T. Allen and Associates, the group which organized the seminars.

Robert DeCamp, director of regulatory affairs and consulting with Deringer Logistics Consulting Group, is a specialist in U.S. trade process and compliance, and was one of the featured speakers for the seminars.

He is a frequent lecturer and specializes in selected international matters including tariff classification under the Harmonized Coding System, Customs valuation, NAFTA and most recently international compliance strategies including assessments and supply chain security.

Ron Dehmel of CSI Investigations provided a presentation on the security issues for both truckers and food exporters surrounding the FDA regulations. Chris Leconte, manager for A.N. Deringer, spoke about how to deal with the new prior notice regulations.

Crystal Main, C-TPAT coordinator for J.D. Irving Limited Corporate Security Group, spoke about the challenges that Irving has faced.

She also conducted a panel discussion on the challenges the new regulations have presented food exporters and truckers.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work within the Irving group of companies with the securities programs at border crossings. This is an important thing to do so we can educate the people using these systems and make the public throughout this region even more aware of what’s going on,” said Main, C-TPAT coordinator for J.D. Irving Ltd. Corporate Security Group, who led a panel discussion on the challenges the new regulations have presented for food exporters and truckers. “Since we work with a number of exporters and carriers, I think the people at the seminars benefited from hearing our stories and about the challenges we have faced.”

For more information, call the ACFEP at 902-894-5015 or the APTA at 506-855-2782.