TORONTO, Ont. — The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has accredited MSR eCustoms to provide Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) e-Manifest services for carriers shipping goods to the United States by highway.

ECustoms, which provides automated trade management solutions in North America, is the first Canadian-owned trade management and compliance solutions provider to receive such an accreditation, the company says.

The accreditation comes just months after CBP approved eCustoms’ QP/WP service for in-bond shipments via the U.S.

eCustoms’ ACE e-Manifest solution is a web-based service that enables businesses to fully comply with mandatory advance electronic cargo and conveyance notification regulations, now gradually being implemented along the U.S./Canada border.

The solution meets strict CBP requirements for all electronic message types and submission times: 30 minutes before the truck reaches a U.S. Customs border checkpoint for FAST carriers and one hour for all others. CBP is expected to fully implement ACE e-Manifest by next year. Non-compliance will result in fines of between US$5,000 and $10,000 as well as trucks being turned back at the border.

“Our aim is to help highway carriers of all sizes to be able to comply with these mandatory regulations quickly and effectively,” said Jackson Wood, Corporate Business Manager at MSR eCustoms. “More importantly, it means that carriers can submit all the relevant information to Customs within the required time period to ensure their trucks cross the border as smoothly as possible.”

eCustoms’ ACE e-Manifest solution is part of the Visual Gateway(tm) Suite, a collection of web-based solutions that enables businesses to comply with advance electronic notifications regulations. Visual Gateway(tm) also covers electronic notifications for air, marine and rail carriers.