OTTAWA, Ont. – Canada Border Services Agency recently release statistics on the Free and Secure Trade program which they believe indicate the program is catching on.

According to CBSA, there are now 19 FAST sites where importers can clear their goods, by into both Canada and the United States, before arriving at the border.

As of March 31, 2005, 16 FAST approved importers, 442 FAST approved carriers, and over 33,602 FAST registered drivers participated in the FAST program. According to officials south of the border, FAST clearances into the U.S. average out to 70,000 passages per month, or 10 per cent of total releases. Detroit (20 per cent) and Port Huron (15 per cent) represent the highest volumes. Volumes are expected to increase nationally by 20 per cent by the end of 2005.

As for FAST clearances into Canada: seven per cent of highway passages are cleared using FAST. Windsor (15 per cent) and Sarnia (12 per cent) represent the highest volumes.

As of May 31, there were 50,996 FAST drivers with cards – 60 per cent of applicants are Canadian and 40 per cent American. (When FAST first started in 2002 the numbers were 80 per cent Canadian and 20 per cent American.)

As of May 31, 88, 774 FAST driver applications had been received. Of them, 74,281 have received conditional approval letters of these 74,281 – 50, 996 have completed the process and received their FAST cards.

As for PIP – the CBSA Partners in Protection program, which is similar to the U.S. Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program, was designed to work with the private sector to help detect and prevent illegal cross border activity.

To date, there are 921 signed partners in the Partners in Protection program.

For more info on PIP and FAST visit:

Canada Border Services Agency National Statistics (2004-2005) http://www.cb 847; 3361;sa-asfc.gc.ca/newsroom/releases/2005/0615ottawa-e.html