Reporting requirements for air cargo transported by a highway carrier (flying trucks)
Air carriers, highway carriers, and freight forwarders all play a role in transporting air cargo via a highway conveyance.
When air cargo physically arrives in Canada on a highway conveyance and moves on the bonded air carrier's waybill (a contract of carriage) to the destination Canadian airport, this is known as a (consolidated) flying truck.
Read on for information about the reporting requirements for consolidated flying trucks.
Highway carriers send conveyance data
Highway carriers transporting air cargo must transmit conveyance data to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) within the prescribed highway timeframes.
The highway carrier must also quote the flying trucks cargo exception code.
Refer to the Departmental Memorandum D3-4-2: Highway Pre-arrival and Reporting Requirements for a definition of “conveyance.”
Highway carriers present air waybills
The highway carrier must present the paper air waybill at the first port of arrival.
The paper air waybill must show the Canadian airport as the ultimate destination airport because the highway carrier will present it at the destination airport sufferance warehouse.
What carrier codes to use
The air waybill number must have a bonded (definition: Bonded carrier) air carrier code. Do not use freight forwarder 8000 series carrier codes as a primary cargo control document to transport commercial goods into Canada.
If the airline is not bonded, the highway carrier must use their own bonded carrier code for an in bond shipment. If this is the case, the shipment does not qualify as a consolidated flying truck. Refer to flying truck scenario 5 below for more details.
Reporting options for freight forwarders
If the flying truck shipment is consolidated, the freight forwarder has 2 options to report it:
- By presenting paper house bills for each shipment in the consolidation to the CBSA post-arrival;
- By electronically transmitting house bills and a house bill close message, referencing the air waybill number as the primary cargo control number for each shipment in the consolidation
The CBSA recommends freight forwarders sign up for eManifest notices (for example, Completeness Notices). These notices will confirm if a related air cargo report is on file. Refer to Chapter 11, Notices, of the Electronic Client Commerce Requirements Document (ECCRD). To get the ECCRD, Contact technical support: EDI and select portals.
Information for air carriers
No pre-arrival data is required from the air carrier.
If the air waybill electronic information is submitted and on file, and destined to the same sub-location code as the electronic house bills, the air carrier may leave the air cargo on file.
For more information, refer to the Departmental Memorandum D3-4-2: Highway Pre-arrival and Reporting Requirements.
Scenarios for flying trucks
These are examples, or scenarios, that describe how various flying trucks are processed.
Scenario 1
The highway carrier presents the original carrier's paper air waybill at the first port of arrival and the air cargo and all eHouse bills are on file.
Processing method
Once shipments arrive at the destination airport's primary warehouse, a warehouse arrival certification message on the air cargo will arrive the cargo control number and the arrival will cascade to eHouse bills.
A deconsolidation notice will be generated and sent to the warehouse operator and freight forwarder, if they are signed up to receive it.
Scenario 2
The highway carrier presents the original carrier's paper air waybill at the first port of arrival and air cargo is not on file. All eHouse bills are on file and destined to an air (AA type or AH type) sufferance warehouse for customs clearance. This scenario only refers to buyers consolidation and/or back to back shipments.
Processing method
The warehouse operator will send a warehouse arrival certification message with the original air cargo control number.
The freight forwarder must present to the CBSA the original carrier's air waybill, post-arrival, for data capture.
The warehouse operator must use a warehouse arrival certification message to send the air cargo control number again after the CBSA completes the data capture. This will cascade and release the eHouse bills.
The system will generate a deconsolidation notice when all shipments are released or otherwise acquitted.
The deconsolidation notice will not go to the warehouse operator in this scenario. A paper copy (DECON) will have to be presented to the warehouse operator.
The paper DECON message will show the sub-location code as “1000” instead of the actual sub-location code of the warehouse that transmits the warehouse arrival certification message.
For more information, refer to the Departmental Memorandum D3-3-1: Freight Forwarder Pre-arrival and Reporting Requirements.
Note: The deconsolidation notice will only go to the freight forwarder if they are signed up to receive it.
Scenario 3
The highway carrier presents the original carrier's paper air waybill at the first port of arrival and the air cargo is not on file. All eHouse bills are on file and destined to a CW warehouse at the airport of destination. The highway carrier first reports to the AA or AH warehouse.
Processing method
The AA or AH warehouse operator must use a warehouse arrival certification message to acknowledge arrival of the original air cargo control number.
The freight forwarder must present to the CBSA the original carrier's air waybill, post-arrival, for data capture.
The warehouse operator must use a warehouse arrival certification message to acknowledge arrival of the air cargo control number again after the CBSA completes data capture. This will cascade eHouse bills to “reported” status and generate a deconsolidation notice allowing the eHouse bills to move to the CW.
The deconsolidation notice will not go to the warehouse operator in this scenario. A paper copy (DECON) will have to be presented to the warehouse operator.
The paper DECON message will show the sub-location code as “1000” instead of the actual sub-location code of the warehouse that transmits the warehouse arrival certification message.
For more information, refer to the Departmental Memorandum D3-3-1: Freight Forwarder Pre-arrival and Reporting Requirements.
Note: The deconsolidation notice will only go to the freight forwarder if they are signed up to receive it.
The CW warehouse receiving the eHouse bills must then use a warehouse arrival certification message to acknowledge arrival of each individual eHouse bill upon receipt at their warehouse.
Scenario 4
The highway carrier presents the original carrier's paper air waybill at the first port of arrival. Air cargo is not on file.
All eHouse bills are on file and destined to a CW warehouse with a CW sub-location code at the same airport as noted on the air waybill.
Processing method
The shipment, whether consolidated or not, can be directly delivered to the CW warehouse without first going to an AA or AH warehouse.
The eHouse bill will have arrival acknowledged via a warehouse arrival certification message by the CW and released, without CBSA intervention, if a release is on file.
Note: The CW warehouse operator must arrive each individual electronic house bill via a warehouse arrival certification message and not the air waybill primary cargo control number. No deconsolidation notice will be generated.
Scenario 5
The highway carrier transmits a highway cargo control number for the shipment using their bonded highway carrier code.
Processing method
The shipment is no longer a flying truck; it is now a highway shipment. The highway carrier must submit cargo and conveyance pre-arrival data, and the freight forwarder must submit eHouse bills and an eHouse bill close message, 1 hour before the conveyance arrives at the first port of arrival.
The highway carrier must advise the freight forwarder of the highway cargo control number so that the freight forwarder can transmit the related eHouse bills within 1 hour before arriving at the first port of arrival.
Requests for data capture
Looking to data capture an air waybill number for a consolidated flying truck shipment? Send your request to the designated CBSA email address for the region where the shipment is located. A list of email addresses is available by going to Client support. Once on that page, go to the “Technical support and processing” tab and select the “Freight forwarders” drop down.
For commercial hours of operation for airports in Canada, refer to the Directory of CBSA Offices and Services or contact the local CBSA office.
Road feeder services
Road feeder services (also known as “RFS”) transport air cargo by truck between different airports.
Some road feeder services have both a highway carrier code and an air carrier code.
Road feeder services will present one of the following at the first port of arrival and process it as per the scenario listed:
- Original carrier's air waybill: process as per scenarios 2 to 4.
- New road feeder services air waybill presented at the first port of arrival (must have original air waybill notated on it): process as per scenarios 2 to 4.
- Road feeder services uses highway carrier code and transmits cargo control number to CBSA (no longer flying truck shipment): process as per scenario 5.
Page details
- Date modified: