Crossing the East Coast border will now be simpler for truckers

East Coast truck drivers will be able to cross the Canada-U.S. border with greater ease.

Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan and U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner announced that truckers will be able to register for preferred treatment at the Woodstock-Houlton border crossing.

Free and Secure Trade (FAST) allows commercial vehicles to cross the border more quickly since the vehicle and the driver have general pre-clearance.

Woodstock is one of five new commercial driver registration points. In the past, the drivers and their vehicles had to register at one of the existing points in Quebec or Ontario.

“This announcement represents both important time and cost savings for Atlantic Canada’s trucking industry,” says Tobique Mactaquac Liberal MP, Andy Savoy, whose riding includes the largest border crossing in Atlantic Canada.

“No longer will commercial carriers have to send drivers and their trucks to Quebec or Ontario to register to ship goods across the border,” he adds.

Caplan says the two sides are moving swiftly to make the joint border more efficient and secure by focusing on people they don’t know while speeding up the crossings of people they do know.