Canadian Pacific Railway announces holding charges

Canadian Pacific Railway is advising its customers that in cases where cars, containers or trailers, crossing the international boundary at any border point between Canada and the U.S., must be switched or held for customs clearance, export declaration or any other documentation, a switching or holding charge of $400.00 per car, container or trailer, per occurrence will be assessed and collected from the shipper or consignee responsible for custom clearance.

The railway says this will apply in cases where cars, containers or trailers are being held through no fault of the railway.

In addition to the switching/holding charge provided above, cars, containers or trailers held at border crossings or inland locations awaiting documentation will also be subject to demurrage charges from the time the shipper at the point of origin or consignee at point of destination is notified that cars, containers or trailers are being held, until customs, export of other documentation is received and cars, containers or trailers are released by customs agency officials for movement to destination.

The party responsible for the charges will be the shipper or the consignee responsible for the customs clearance.

This party will be responsible for the charges regardless of whether they were responsible for physically loading the cars, or whether the original bill of lading is changed to indicate that another party is the shipper or consignee.