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Shipments That Cross More Than One Border

Follow goods that leave one country, cross another and arrive in a third - the route CargoLint reads, the transit countries you declare, and what the transit and export profiles add to the checklist.

You’re a forwarder in Canada, and few of your files touch only two countries. A container from Busan lands at Seattle and goes on by rail to Toronto in bond. Another lands at Saint John and crosses Maine by rail to Montreal. A Canadian client ships machinery to Germany out of a US port, and a US client ships to Brazil. Each time the question is the same: the goods pass through more than one customs authority, so what does each one expect of the file?

“Which way does CargoLint think the goods are going?”

Open the shipment. Beside its reference, the route reads from the export country to the destination, with “via …” for any transit countries in between. Hover over each part to see where it was read from. The destination’s card also names the first port of arrival: the port of discharge, airport or station of destination the transport document names. For the Seattle container, that is a US port, though the destination is Canada.

Each transport document’s leg, from where to where and by which mode, is part of the route in the API’s shipment detail; the page itself does not list the legs. See Transport Documents.

“The documents point at the wrong destination, or at none.”

Set it yourself. Click Change beside the destination, or Set destination when the page shows Destination unknown., and pick the country. When the documents disagree, a notice lists what each one says and Choose settles it. A destination you set carries a Set manually chip, and its ↺ button hands the choice back to the documents. Saving checks the shipment again.

Only the destination can be set on the shipment. The export country and the first port of arrival come from the documents, so a wrong one is corrected on its document in the review editor. See Working with Shipments.

“The goods cross the US on the way. Does CargoLint know that?”

Only when the documents say so or you tell it. CargoLint reads transit countries from the bill of lading’s routing when it shows legs beyond port to port, leaving out the export country and the destination. It does not infer transit from a US port of discharge: a bill that shows only port to port reads none, and no transit row applies until a transit country is declared.

To declare it, find Transit countries among the facts on the Expected Documents card and click Declare. Pick the country from Add a country, click Add, then Save.

  • The declaration is read instead of the documents. The fact reads “declared by” with the name and date, and keeps what the documents said beside it.
  • The route then shows “via United States”.
  • Saving checks the shipment again. Change edits the declaration; Use the documents drops it.

Rail and road rows also read the transport mode, which comes from the transport documents in the file. A file holding only the ocean bill reads sea; if the container goes on by rail, declare Transport mode and tick both sea and rail. See Declaring a fact.

“What does the US expect of goods crossing it?”

The United States transit profile adds its rows for goods transiting the US:

  • In-bond application (transportation and exportation), a filing, and Seals intact to the port of exportation, a marking
  • by road, the United States-Canada Transit Manifest (Form 7512-B, CBSA Form A8B), a document row at Info
  • by rail, the ACE advance rail manifest, and from October 26th, 2026, the ACE rail export manifest, with the in-bond number
  • by sea, when the first port of arrival is in the US, the Importer Security Filing (ISF-5)

The filings and the marking are listed as notes under Filings and markings; CargoLint does not file anything. The ISF-5 row lists its five elements: the place of delivery is read from the bill of lading, the ship-to party from the invoice’s consignee and the HTSUS number from the invoice lines, while the booking party and the foreign port of unlading are not read from the documents. For the Saint John container, whose first port of arrival is in Canada, the ISF-5 row reads Not needed. See Filing rows and their elements.

“And what does Canada expect at the other end?”

Canada’s own profile, as the destination, has rows for the same movement: a Bonded carrier whenever the goods transit the US, the Rail in transit manifest (BSF708) or A5 train report with the in-transit import report by rail, and the United States-Canada Transit Manifest (Form A8B) by road, both at Info. By sea, when the first port of arrival is in Canada, it adds the Marine cargo report at the first port of arrival, which the Saint John container gets and the Seattle one does not.

An in-transit manifest is a kind CargoLint recognizes without reading, so one in the file reads Present · not read. When the carrier holds it, you can mark the row Provided outside CargoLint. Several of these rows carry a note that their source describes Canadian-origin goods and leaves foreign goods as a question for the broker; each row links its regulation or memorandum under Sources:.

“My client exports from the US or Canada. What’s added on the way out?”

The export country’s profile, when it has one. Today the United States and Canada do:

  • Electronic Export Information (EEI) through AES - for a shipment leaving the US for anywhere but Canada, applying above USD 2,500. The source’s threshold is per Schedule B number; the row reads the invoice total, and its note says so.
  • Export declaration (CERS) - for a shipment leaving Canada for anywhere but the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, including goods moving through the US to a third country, applying at CAD 2,000 or more.

Both are filings, so they are noted, never graded. Their text also covers licensed or restricted goods at any value; the checklist itself reads the destination and the total. CargoLint converts the invoice total into the threshold’s currency at the Bank of Canada’s rate for Canadian dollars and the Federal Reserve’s H.10 rates for US dollars. Below the threshold, the row reads Not needed and gives the converted total. When the total cannot be converted, the row reads Cannot tell and is listed among the checks not run, with the reason. An export country without a profile adds nothing. See Value thresholds.

“Which rows count on this shipment’s date?”

Each row is judged on the shipment’s export date, else its invoice date, else the date of the evaluation, and the card header names the date and which of the three it is (“Canada import requirements · judged on … (export date)”). A row not in force on that date is left out: a rail shipment judged before October 26th, 2026 does not list the ACE rail export manifest. The same date is used to convert the total. See Effective dates.

“The goods cross a country CargoLint has no profile for.”

You can still declare it, and the route shows it. Today only the United States has a transit profile; any other transit country is listed among the checks not run in the coverage line under the Consistency Checklist, so the file shows what was not looked at.

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