Weekend border clearance

The situation

A parts manufacturer needed a batch of machined transmission housings delivered to an assembly plant outside Windsor before its Monday morning shift. The freight came off the line late Friday afternoon, later than the shipping schedule called for, which meant it had to clear customs sometime over the weekend, when brokerage staffing runs thin.

What we did

BMA's cross-border desk had the commercial invoice and supporting paperwork prepared before the truck left the shipper's dock. That decision mattered later. A data mismatch between the packing list and invoice quantities surfaced at the border Saturday evening, and having the broker already engaged meant the correction was resubmitted quickly rather than sitting in a queue behind other weekend crossings.

The dry van cleared the bridge Saturday night. Dispatch held the driver at a truck stop outside Detroit rather than push straight through, since the plant's receiving office wasn't scheduled to open again until Monday and there was nowhere to stage the trailer any earlier.

A short call to the plant Sunday afternoon confirmed the dock appointment was still set for early Monday morning.

The result

The truck arrived ahead of that appointment, and the consignee confirmed the freight was received and accepted before the shift started.

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