but it had an ottowa file number on the bill

[termite289]

ok, border crossing can be nightmarish at times. especially when your the second half of a swap, and the first guy seems to have forgotten the customs invoice. tonight i sit here and watch the guy i just swapped with scramble around the truck stop running in and out doing the fax thing because the shipper didn't give me a customs invoice. HOWEVER,,, in plain english, there is an ottowa file number on the bill of lading.
so when ya get to the customs booth, you hand the guard one copy of the bill of lading, pointing out the OTTAWA FILE NO. The guard puts said number into computer, and smiles and waves as you are cleared for delivery. the reason i know this is because of the first time i ever got one. i told the shipper they were nuts, which in turn ****ed them off. and after a few hours of sitting, a dispatcher familiar with the procedure called me on the phone. and told me to get my but i gear. when i explained that they refused to give me a customs invoice, she said i wasn't supposed to get one. it was clearing electronically. and the broker already had it.
am i wrong??? am i confusing some other procedure with the ottawa file no.? when i called dispatch to try and help this poor guy understand it, i was told to call back in the morning. A8A forms will be coming out of the briefcase for a load of empty racks. argggg.
so again i ask, im i wrong?

 

[termite289]

see, now im starting to feel bad, thinking i might have screwed up. cause noone is saying anything.

 

[P51bombay]

Well I suppose that might be true as the days of paper PARS are done but I would NEVER head to the booth without at least one copy of the commercial invoice. Although I do always have a BOL I never present that to customs - they neither need nor want it. I nearly always have the PARS sticker on the commercial invoice, only very occasionally does someone place it on the BOL and ALWAYS hand your paperwork over with the PARS sticker on top - if they see the sticker most will just scan it and ignore the paper its attached to unless it comes up PNOF (pars not on file - usually at least a 2 hour delay) I have learned that before leaving a shipper check for three things on your invoice - 1)$$$ amount for each and every item as well as total value 2) Statement of which currency is used (USD or CAD) and 3) country of origin as if any of these are missing its quite possible the broker will either a)do nothing with it (especially Livingston) or b) it will get rejected by CBSA


Another thing is many of the larger brokers have a PARS tracker on their website where you can punch in your PARS and it will tell you if you are cleared to proceed of if there is a problem - this lets you get them fixed BEFORE hitting the booth and if your PARS sticker is on top and you answer the no guns, knives, weapons Q's correctly they send you on your way.


I have no idea what an Ottawa file is though - maybe it gets you Senators tickets. LOL


PS - there is no more filling out A8A's now that everything is e-pars, should you have a failed pars you simply call the broker and fax/or walk the papers over, wait for them to resubmit, get your transaction number and take it back to customs.

 

[termite289]

we are talkin empty automotive racks.

yes normal procedure pars on canadian customs invoice going up, paps on ace manifest and inward cargo manifest coming back. fill out a inward cargo manifest on empty trailers oming back into ny state, just because they say so.,,, alwayse fax at least 2 hours prior to crossing, unless it is livingston, then 4 hours. but these procedures are for pars, and paps.
csa shipments = hand agent your cdrp card, and csa lead sheet cards, he scans and waves you on.
this was different. and iv only seen a few of them.

 

[P51bombay]

we are talkin empty automotive racks.

but these procedures are for pars, and paps.
csa shipments = hand agent your cdrp card, and csa lead sheet cards, he scans and waves you on.
this was different. and iv only seen a few of them.

Don't know what any of that means TBH.

But heading south all I do is fill in the top of inward manifest with driver, truck and destination write the word "emanifest" in the main body where you used to list your shipments and my trip number right under that, sign and hand it over to CBP. I neither write or place paps stickers on the manifest as it is not mandatory - some moan about it now and then but I just agree and keep doing it the same. Technically a manifest is not required when empty but some carriers want one done anyway. Lately CBP is requiring all empties have the doors open and if you got a cattle trailer they will be looking REAL CLOSE, smell or no smell. LOL

 

[termite289]

guess i screwed up. damit.
with all the rest iv been getting lately, i suppose brain has grown lethargic.

 

[highway star]

Here's what I think I learned from my 1 experience with the Ottawa File. It's for clearing routine shipments of dunnage and companies have to be registered for it. Companies such as GM are signed up so that racks, boxes, ect. can be returned without going through being cleared.

My experienced involved what the definition of "routine" is. It was one of the screwier loads I've had. I picked up 50 used "gaylord" boxes in Dayton, Tn., going to the parts facility in Woodstock, On. This was long before PARS was required and I went to the broker to get it cleared. I had invoices. The broker wasn't sure how to clear it, and after going back and forth between the broker and customs several times, it was decided to clear it Ottawa File. One of the customs officers said the shipment didn't fit the "spirit" of the intention of Ottawa File as it wasn't a routine shipment. As opposed to, say, racks that fenders would hang on coming back to the supplier that makes the fender, this was a purchase of boxes.

So, apparently GM couldn't find any used boxes anywhere near Woodstock, ON. They had to purchase them from a place 700 miles away and pay for an expedite. And, they're going broke? What a shock!

 

[termite289]

It is good not to be the screw up.
because he was late with delivery, and i felt bad, i called to ask if i was wrong. turns out i was not. load cleared with ottawa file no after all the faxing and fretting that he did. maybe we should have an amendment to the panther bible, and all other expedite manuals abut how to clear with these obscure methods that are almost never used. he would have been on time, and this thread would never have been started.
so driver rep, please see if we can get such an amendment to the panther bible in place.

 

[pjjjjj]

At least the carrier might aim to ensure a CSR is on duty at all times who can guide their OOs through these lesser known procedures. Is that too much to ask of a huge carrier like Panther????? A little training might go a long way.

 

[termite289]

well now in panthers defense, they do run two orientations a week, and i have never heard of any contractor not being allowed to sit in on one of them if they want to just to bone up.

all the normal procedures, and how to fill out the forms are step by step in the panther bible, and they work prety well at helping to figure out anything that isn't. but i agree that this should be in there, and i dont think it is. i truly felt bad for the guy that got the load after me, cause iv been in his position before. i got a drivers load coming back into the states, with 75 pages of invoice, and had to fax it 3 times from the truckstop.

 

[mjolnir131]

well now in panthers defense, they do run two orientations a week, and i have never heard of any contractor not being allowed to sit in on one of them if they want to just to bone up.

Actually they encourage it, I received an email a few weeks ago that said just that.

 

[pjjjjj]

To me, it would be much simpler to train a few CSRs than it would be to train 1000 OOs on every possible type of paperwork that could potentially be asked for at a border.
Isn't that knowledge, experience, guidance partially what you're paying for when you're leased onto a carrier? Don't they have as much of an interest in their loads crossing competently and quickly, as the OO does?

 

[P51bombay]

To me, it would be much simpler to train a few CSRs than it would be to train 1000 OOs on every possible type of paperwork that could potentially be asked for at a border.
Isn't that knowledge, experience, guidance partially what you're paying for when you're leased onto a carrier? Don't they have as much of an interest in their loads crossing competently and quickly, as the OO does?

Dunno, I see drivers sitting in customs trying to get issues resolved by contacting their carrier instead of calling or simply walking across the street to the broker.