The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is calling on the federal Cabinet to fund a permanent fix for what it describes as failing Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) technology, warning that recurring border system outages are delaying trucks and adding costs to the supply chain.

The CTA said the problems have been most visible this week at major border crossings in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, where systems may appear stable in the morning but slow or fail under heavier afternoon commercial traffic.

To enter Canada, trucking companies typically submit cargo data to CBSA electronically before arrival. CTA said messages that normally take minutes are now taking four to eight hours, or longer, forcing some drivers to wait in the United States for an entire shift before being cleared to proceed.

“Our members are incredibly resilient, but for fleets it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify this current reality,” said Lak Shoan, CTA director of policy and public affairs. “The workarounds recently introduced by the CBSA, along with IT updates, show they are committed to keeping trucks moving, but the frustration for drivers and carriers continues to mount because they fear these failures are our new normal until this system is replaced.”

CTA said contingency and paper processes remain available, but are time-consuming for both carriers and border officers.

“This means numerous drivers are being forced to sit idle in the U.S. for an entire work shift just waiting for the word ‘go,’” Shoan said. “That is time taken away from their families and disruption to their rest cycles. It is a difficult way to manage a complex supply chain.”

Mike Millian, president of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, also criticized the state of the border systems.

“This is sad. Canadian border crossing systems are an antiquated joke that makes us, as a trading nation, look terrible,” Millian told trucknews.com. “Serious money needs to be dropped into this system to bring us into the current decade when it comes to processing capability. Embarrassing!”

CTA estimates 11,000 commercial trucks enter Canada each day through Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba. Based on the delay costs of $300 per truck for four hours, or $600 for eight hours, the alliance said the cost to the supply chain could range from $3.3 million to $6.6 million per day. Over a week, it says the added cost could exceed $30 million to $45 million.

The alliance said it remains in contact with CBSA, which it says is working to mitigate the issues, but argued the long-term solution requires federal investment.

“The minister of public safety has a modernization action plan on the table, and that is where our focus remains,” Shoan said. “But we need Cabinet to step up and provide the minister with the investment funds required to fix this properly, instead of continuously ‘patching’ a broken system.”