How to Ship Freight to Canada from the US
12 Oct 2026
Shipping freight to Canada needs a commercial invoice, a customs broker to file the entry, and a clearance submitted before the truck reaches the border. Here is the order it has to happen in.
Shipping freight to Canada from the US needs three things in place before the truck moves: a commercial invoice or Canada Customs Invoice with accurate detail, a customs broker appointed to file the entry, and a PARS clearance submitted to the Canada Border Services Agency before the truck reaches the border. The clearance happens ahead of arrival, not at the crossing.
That last point is where most delays come from. A shipper who assumes the paperwork gets handed over at the border is the shipper whose load sits there. The border is where clearance is confirmed, not where it starts.
What paperwork a shipment to Canada needs
Four documents cover a normal commercial truck shipment.
A commercial invoice, or a Canada Customs Invoice. CBSA needs the buyer and seller, a full description of the goods, quantity, value, currency, country of origin and the HS tariff classification. A commercial invoice containing all of that is acceptable; the CCI is the prescribed form if yours does not. Vague descriptions are the single most common reason an entry gets referred for examination. "Parts" is not a description.
The bill of lading. The contract of carriage for the freight itself. It binds whoever signs it, on a cross-border load exactly as on a domestic one.
The cargo control document, or manifest. The carrier's document, transmitted electronically. Highway carriers entering Canada send an ACI eManifest to CBSA in advance of arrival, and carriers entering the US send an ACE e-Manifest to CBP. This is the carrier's job, not yours, but a carrier that is not set up for it cannot run your load.
A certification of origin, where you are claiming preferential tariff treatment. Under CUSMA there is no prescribed form, and the certification can be made by the exporter, the producer or the importer, including on the invoice itself. It is what reduces or removes the duty, so it is worth getting right rather than skipping.
One thing to ignore: the CAD $150 duty and CAD $40 tax de minimis thresholds come up in a lot of writing about shipping to Canada. They apply to courier and low-value shipments. They have nothing to do with palletized commercial freight on a truck.
PARS and PAPS, and why clearance happens before the truck arrives
These two acronyms are the carrier's clearance at the border, one clearance type for each direction.
PARS is the Pre-Arrival Review System, used for freight moving north into Canada. The carrier puts a PARS barcode on the invoice package and sends it to the customs broker. The broker submits the entry to CBSA before the truck arrives. CBSA reviews it and returns either an acceptance or a referral for examination. When the driver reaches the crossing, the decision already exists and the truck either proceeds or reports for inspection.
PAPS is the Pre-Arrival Processing System, the same idea southbound into the US. The carrier assigns a PAPS number built from its own carrier code, the broker files the entry with CBP in advance, and the result is waiting when the truck arrives.
The practical consequence for a shipper is simple. The paperwork has to reach the customs broker with enough time for the entry to be filed and processed before the driver gets to the border. Hand a driver a sealed envelope at the dock and hope it gets sorted at the crossing, and the load waits. Send accurate documents to the broker when the load is booked, and in the ordinary case the truck does not stop for long.
It also means the chain has a weak link that is not obvious: the customs broker needs to have been appointed before the freight moves. If nobody has told a broker this shipment exists, there is no entry to file.
Who does what
Four parties, and the confusion about which is which is why cross-border runs go wrong.
| Party | What they do |
|---|---|
| The shipper | Supplies accurate commercial documents and the correct HS classification and origin |
| The customs broker | Files the customs entry with CBSA or CBP and accounts for duties and taxes |
| The carrier | Transmits the eManifest, presents the clearance at the crossing, hauls the freight |
| The freight broker | Books a carrier qualified to run the border and keeps the three above talking to each other |
Worth separating two terms that sound the same and are not. A customs broker is licensed to file entries with the border agency. A freight broker arranges the trucking. They are different licenses doing different jobs, and the freight broker cannot file your entry. A freight forwarder is a third thing again, and the one most often confused with a broker.
Who pays the duties and taxes
The importer of record pays, and the importer of record is whoever the sale terms make responsible. If your Canadian customer is importing, they pay the duty and the 5 percent GST, and it is accounted for through their customs broker.
If you are selling delivered and absorbing those costs yourself, you become the importer into Canada. A US company can do that as a Non-Resident Importer, which means registering for a business number and GST and taking on the compliance that goes with it. It makes buying from you easier for your Canadian customer, and it moves the paperwork burden onto you.
None of this is the same question as who pays the freight charges. That is set by the prepaid or collect terms on the bill of lading. A shipment can easily be prepaid on the freight and collect on the duty, and assuming one from the other is how invoices end up disputed.
LTL into Canada, or truckload
The mode decision works much as it does domestically, with one wrinkle: every handling point is another opportunity for a document problem.
A truckload crossing moves as one shipment under one entry, clears once, and is simpler for exactly that reason. LTL into Canada works and is normal, but the freight is on a trailer with other shippers' freight, which means other shippers' paperwork. If somebody else's entry gets referred for examination, your pallets are on that trailer.
That is not an argument against LTL. It is an argument for being the shipper on the trailer whose documents are clean.
If the freight is not cleared at the border
Freight does not have to clear at the crossing. It can move inland under customs control to a sufferance warehouse or an inland terminal and clear there, which is what in-bond movement means.
That requires a bonded carrier, meaning a carrier authorized by CBSA to move freight that has not yet been released. Most cross-border freight does not need it, because most freight clears at the border on a PARS. It matters when clearance is going to take longer than the truck can wait, or when the entry is complex enough that it is better handled away from the crossing.
Where LT2 fits
LT2 Logistics arranges freight across the United States and into Canada. Every carrier is verified before it touches your freight: operating authority, insurance and safety history, monitored on an ongoing basis rather than checked once at setup. For a cross-border run that verification includes sourcing carriers who are set up to cross the border.
We are a freight broker, not a customs broker. We do not file your entry. What we do is book a carrier that can run the crossing and make sure the documents, the customs broker and the driver are lined up before the truck moves rather than after.
If you have freight going into Canada and you are not sure what it needs, call us at (262) 888-3553 with the lane and the commodity. More on how our brokerage works.
Frequently Asked Questions
In practice, yes. A customs broker files the entry with the Canada Border Services Agency and accounts for duties and taxes. It is legally possible for an importer to file its own entries, but almost nobody shipping commercial freight does, because the broker has to be appointed and the entry filed before the truck reaches the border for the load to clear without waiting.
PARS is the Pre-Arrival Review System, the process for clearing freight into Canada before the truck arrives. The carrier puts a PARS barcode on the invoice package and sends it to the customs broker, who files the entry with CBSA ahead of arrival. CBSA returns an acceptance or a referral, so the decision exists before the driver reaches the crossing.
Direction. PARS is the Pre-Arrival Review System, used for freight moving north into Canada and filed with CBSA. PAPS is the Pre-Arrival Processing System, used for freight moving south into the United States and filed with CBP. The mechanism is the same in both: the entry is submitted and processed before the truck gets to the border.
The importer of record, which the sale terms decide. If your Canadian customer is importing, they pay the duty and the 5 percent GST through their own customs broker. If you are selling delivered and absorbing it, you become the importer and can register as a Non-Resident Importer. It is a separate question from who pays the freight charges.
Yes, and it is routine. The thing to understand is that your pallets share a trailer with other shippers' freight, so they also share other shippers' paperwork. If another entry on that trailer is referred for examination, your freight is sitting in the same trailer. A truckload crossing clears once, under one entry, which is why it is simpler.
A bonded carrier is authorized by CBSA to move freight that has not yet been released by customs, from the border to an inland terminal or sufferance warehouse where it clears. Most cross-border freight does not need one, because most freight clears at the crossing on a PARS. It matters when clearance will take longer than the truck can reasonably wait.
No. Under CUSMA there is no prescribed form, and the certification of origin can be made by the exporter, the producer or the importer, including as a statement on the commercial invoice. It needs the required data elements rather than a particular layout. It is what supports a preferential duty rate, so it is worth completing properly.
