The relative importance of cross-border trade in Canada has been changing for quite a long time, particularly in Ontario which borders the five U.S. states in the south: Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. With the growth of e-commerce, there has been a tremendous increase in products that cross the 5,500-mile border between Canada and the U.S.
According to some experts in transportation research, "cross-border transportation involves the activities, infrastructures, and flows that ensure the passage of passengers and freight across an international border". As a result, "cross-border transportation can be facilitated, monitored, controlled, and even prevented".
As such, this paper will present a descriptive account of Canada-US cross-border freight transportation along those lines, with relevant background, details or examples (e.g. regulatory and operating requirements, border crossings and infrastructure, customs and trade facilitation, developments and data including technological advances and commodity flows) and with particular reference to land freight transportation and trucking services.
The intent is for the paper to provide an overall picture of shipping goods between Canada to the U.S. via cross-border freight transportation especially trucking, which is required for considering the current situation as well as issues and challenges facing the industry involved in cross-border trade.
