WINKLER, Man. (Sept. 13, 2004) — When a truckload of animal feed got rejected at the border earlier this year because the paperwork didn’t gel with U.S. Food and Drug Administration reporting requirements, Roy Rempel didn’t see red — he saw opportunity.

Rempel, manager of safety, compliance and human resources at 50 truck-fleet Essen Transport in Winkler, Man., says the truck — coming from the U.S. to Canada in this case — was seized, sealed, and padlocked for several weeks in a parking lot at the border crossing at Pembina, N.D. because the shipper hadn’t included enough information about the ingredients in the feed.

Essen Transport learned from that experience, and opened up their own FDA-certified temporary storage facility for embargoed animal and human food shipments held up at the border because of safety or security concerns. “To our knowledge, ours is the first such facility in Canada,” says Rempel.

The 4,000-square-foot warehouse, with state-of-the-art equipment, still hasn’t had any customers, but Rempel is confident that there will be demand before long — especially when enforcement over new FDA pre-notification rules kicks into high gear. “We have had some inquiries,” he says. “Customs has been going easy on truckers so far, but we think that will soon change.”

Because the warehouse is a secured facility, there is no name on the building and the company is not advertising the service openly. “We are not sure yet how the system will work,” Rempel says. “We may have to pick up the cargo at the border crossing and bring it here — or the driver may be given permission to come here with the customs seal on the truck.”