http://www.aacb.com/Bringing Cross-Border Opportunities to You. Business Without Borders.en-usafan@aacb.com?2005 A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd.Sat, 18 May 2013 23:27:16 PDT5http://www.aacb.com/images/PoweredByAA.gif15546http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1646http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1646
Four Convoys in support of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics took place in Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Paris, ON., while a fifth event, The Convoy for Hope, ran in Moncton, NB.

This year’s largest convoy took place in Manitoba with 141 trucks raising over $65,000. Trucks started at the Oak Bluff Recreation Centre on the Perimeter Highway southwest of Winnipeg, and ran counterclockwise around the city. With that many trucks in the Convoy, the lead truck must have been darned close to the Pembina Hwy. intersection before the last truck left Oak Bluff.

In Saskatoon, organizers had 62 trucks participate that raised a preliminary total of $45,000. That convoy route was the longest of this year’s events, running from the Credit Union Centre to Regina’s Turvey Center, a distance of 250 km along Hwy 11. This year’s event also featured a truck-pull challenge where four teams competed for the best time to pull a 15-ton truck a distance of 15 meters.

In Paris, ON., about 45 minutes west of Toronto, organizers ran their eighth convoy. This year they had 51 trucks that raised $42,000. Over the eight years, the Paris convoy has raised close to $350,000 for Special Olympics athletes. And the best part about the fund raising effort is that all of the money remains in the jurisdiction that raised it.

This year marked the first Special Olympics Convoy event for Halifax, and by all accounts, it won’t be the last. Event coordinator, Anne Marie Shannon, said with two weeks to go before the event, she was ready to call it off because only three trucks had pre-registered. Having been assured that drivers would show up on the day of the event because many just cannot commit in advance, Shannon went ahead with it. And show up they did: 57 drivers brought close to $19,000 to Special Olympians in the region.

"It was unbelievable," Shannon said. "There were hundreds and hundreds of people lining the route and cheering the drivers on. In my 10 years of fund raising for Special Olympics, I’ve never seen anything like it. Tears were flowing everywhere — even many of my long-term volunteers were crying. It was truly inspiring.”

Shannon, whose father is a truck driver, is well aware of some of the stereotyping truckers suffer. She says this event puts all that to rest.

"These men and women are remarkable people. Coming together with that kind of support and dedication to a cause few of them have any direct link to is truly outstanding," says Shannon. "I congratulate them and thank them from the bottom of my heart."

The Halifax Convoy ran from Canadian Forces Base Halifax (formerly CFB Shearwater) located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour. It began at “F Hangar” on the base, drove through the streets of Dartmouth, Cole Harbour, Eastern Passage, and back to the base — a distance of 37 km.

And in Moncton this year, the Convoy of Hope Atlantic, made a successful comeback after a year’s hiatus. Organizer Jo-Ann Phillips, a former Olympic athlete and now a small fleet owner, built on the previous success of former Convoy for a Cure events held in Moncton in 2009 and 2010, broadening the scope of this year’s event to include breast, colon, lung and prostate cancer awareness.

Over 40 trucks ran from the Irving Big Stop in Salisbury, NB. just east of Moncton, to the Irving Big Stop in Aulac, NB. at the New Brunswick/Nova Scotia border, a distance of 85 km. Preliminary totals stand at $20,000. The day’s events also included many local cancer survivors, who rode in the convoy, judged the trucks, etc.

Joanne Ritchie, the executive director of the Owner-Operator’s Business Association of Canada(OBAC), attended the Paris, ON. convoy for the eighth year, and in addition to sellin]]>Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:44:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1645http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1645Thu, 6 Sep 2012 18:41:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1644http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1644Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:45:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1643http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1643
Are your contract carriers, truck brokers, 3PL providers, and their drivers ready for this important change? If not, your shipments could be delayed and/or refused entry by CBSA at the border. If you haven’t already discussed and received assurances on the eManifest readiness of your highway supply chain partners, then I strongly urge you to do so now! This is crucial to ensuring smooth and disruption-free highway clearances for your business.

CBSA has recently sent eManifest communications to more than 21,000 registered carriers and 250 trucking and trade associations in efforts to increase eManifest implementation. Additional outreach to the top 500 high volume carriers is underway. Requests to the CBSA for their weekly eManifest Portal demonstrations, webinars and presentation copies have increased dramatically in the last few weeks. Despite these ongoing efforts, the CBSA is concerned by the large number of carriers who have not yet signed up to begin testing data transmissions for eManifest. If any of these carriers are moving your freight, then now would be a good time to encourage your service providers to to reach out to the CBSA and adopt eManifest in time for November.

The CBSA, I.E.Canada and other trade associations will continue to work together to reach all highway carriers and to offer the necessary information and help in implementing eManifest requirements before November.

I urge you to avoid the headaches, including business disruptions and costly delays by talking to your highway carriers today.

Source: IE Canada]]>Thu, 9 Aug 2012 19:16:00 -0800http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1642http://www.aacb.com/publications/cc/article.asp?id=1642
A Phytosanitary Certificate will be required for the following commodities:

44.01.22.0122.09 - Ash - wood chips 44.03.99.0151.08 - Ash - bark and bark mulch (untreated) 44.06.10.0140.20 - Ash - railway or tramway sleepers not impregnated 44.07.95.0133 - Of Ash - Not end-jointed or finger-jointed. (Fraxinus spp.) 44.18.60.0144.01 - Ash - posts and beams - non-tropical wood, not coniferous - with bark

44.15.10.0001.03 - Cases, boxes, crates, drums and similar packings; cable-drums. Stand alone (not accompanied with a commodity) - With ash material. 44.15.20.0001.03 - Pallets, box pallets and other load boards; pallet collars - Stand alone (not accompanied with a commodity) - With ash material.

Please note that for 44.15.10.0001.03 and 44.15.20.0001.03, an ISPM no. 15 compliant stamp will be accepted in lieu of a Phytosanitary Certificate.

Source: CSCB Website News]]>Fri, 3 Aug 2012 14:28:00 -0800