Get with (FAST) program, Bradley tells shippers

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TORONTO, Ont. — CTA CEO David Bradley this week urged Canadian importers and exporters to join programs like FAST to speed transborder transport.

Bradley did so during a speech at the annual meeting of Importers & Exporters (IE) held in Toronto.

“An efficient, predictable border between Canada and the United States is the number one economic issue confronting Canada,” said Bradley.

“If we give up more efficiency and productivity at the border; if we cannot assure predictability of the supply chain, then direct investment will flow to where most of the demand for production resides the U.S. At that point, there will be a lot less demand for Canadian manufactured goods and a lot less work for Canadian trucks, trains, ships and other modes of freight transportation.”

According to Bradley, the keys to an efficient border are are three-fold: (1) Bilateral customs/security programs based on risk assessment as opposed to “check everything all the time,” (2) More participation throughout the supply chain in these programs.Bradley decried the slowness with which many shippers have embraced programs like FAST/C-TPAT and warned that more and more carriers are now charging for border delays and introducing different rates for FAST versus non-FAST shipments, and (3) investment in critical infrastructure like new bridge capacity, improved highway approaches to the border and more investment overall in the nation’s highway system.”
“It is incredible that in a country like Canada, which is so dependent upon trade with the US for its economic well-being that we cannot find a way to move forward in places like Windsor and that Canada remains the only major industrialized country on the planet NOT to have a national highway policy,” said Bradley.

Bradley called on all members of the trade community to work together to insure that border issues get the attention they deserve in the broader business community and at all three levels of government.

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