OTTAWA — Canadian carriers need to be diligent in ensuring U.S.-bound trailers have a certified security seal or risk being suspended from C-TPAT, the Canadian Trucking Alliance warns.

CTA has become aware of what may be a growing number of carriers who have found themselves in this situation without any prior warning.

"On the one hand, the seal requirement seems simple enough, but in the real world, where there are different drivers, and different types of trailers, loaded at different customer premises, by different people, it is easy for things to fall through the cracks despite a carrier’s best intentions," notes a CTA press release.

C-TPAT shippers are supposed to be responsible for affixing the seal when loading trailers. But if they don’t, and the driver doesn’t catch it, the carrier is held responsible, explains CTA.

CTA is asking CBP to adopt a ‘progressive discipline’
policy when it comes to C-TPAT trailer certification.

Such a misstep could cost carriers their C-TPAT status for one to five years. Worse still, carriers may not even know they have a problem as notification of suspension — without explanation — arrives by mail to the carrier.

"We do not dispute the fact that if you are going to be in the C-TPAT program you must abide by its rules; but a policy of one strike and you’re out of the program for a year or more, without prior warning seems draconian. It’s hard to rationalize that the penalties fit the crime in these cases," says David Bradley, CEO of the CTA.

With so many trailers in service, even the best management plans are not failsafe, says Bradley. "Carriers cannot physically inspect every single trailer, or ensure that their drivers inspect every trailer, before departure from a shipper’s premises, for example, but the carrier is the only party it seems that is held liable."

CTA will discuss the issue with Customs and Border Protection, which administers the C-TPAT program. It hopes the agency will adopt a policy of "progressive discipline" like those that exist for truck safety compliance, starting with warning letters for minor infractions and increasing penalties for continued non-
compliance.

"Carriers don’t want to lose their C-TPAT designation," says Bradley. "Loss of the low-risk identifier for even a short period of time could be the death-knell of a company, especially if you are serving an industry like automotive."