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Carrier

A person involved in international commercial transportation who operates a conveyance (vehicle, vessel or other means of transportation) used to transport specified goods^{Footnote 1} to or from Canada.

To operate a conveyance means to have legal custody and control of it as:

• an owner
• a lessee under a lease or hire agreement, or a charterer under a hire agreement
• a purchaser under a conditional sale or hire purchase agreement that reserves to the vendor the title to the conveyance until the purchase price is paid or certain conditions are performed, or
• a mortgagor (a person or entity with a mortgage on the conveyance)

Carrier code

A 4-character unique identifier that is assigned by the CBSA to identify eligible carriers. Only one carrier code is issued to each legal entity (corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship) per mode of transport (highway, marine, air or rail).

Freight forwarder

An agent who arranges for the transportation of goods, and who may provide other services such as consolidation and deconsolidation of shipments, de-stuffing containers, customs brokerage and warehousing.

Carrier code for freight forwarders

A 4-character unique identifier that is assigned by the CBSA to identify eligible freight forwarders. Only one carrier code is issued to each legal entity (corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship).

Note: Specified goods do not include hand-carried goods. Hand-carried goods are transported into Canada by a person other than a commercial carrier. For more information, refer to Memorandum D17-1-4: Release of Commercial Goods.