Free and Secure Trade (FAST) Program Promotion
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) have implemented the bilateral Free and Secure Trade Program - FAST. The program aims to increase the integrity of supply chain security by offering expedited clearance to carriers and importers enrolled in Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) or Canada's Partner's in Protection (PIP). At the Pacific Highway Port-of-Entry, a dedicated FAST lane opened for southbound commercial shipments in 2002. In 2007 a northbound FAST lane was completed.
The IMTC forum identified the marketing of FAST as a priority in 2003, and over the past several years, the Whatcom Council of Governments (WCOG), has worked with CBP and CBSA on numerous outreach and educational efforts directed at commercial vehicle drivers, carriers, and shippers, designed to provide more information about the program. The objective of FAST marketing is to reduce overall border congestion by expediting low-risk commercial movements, and allowing inspection agencies to focus their energies on higher-risk shipments.
As an early phase of this regional FAST marketing effort, CBP, CBSA, and WCOG invited representatives from BC and WA trucking associations and regional border brokerages to a roundtable to identify the most effective ways to conduct outreach and promote enrollment in the FAST Program.
Outreach to Carriers and Drivers
The first phase of marketing focused on identifying a target market of carriers who make up the majority of cross-border trips. WCOG worked with CBP to conduct data collection and analysis as part of the FAST Marketing project. Early outcomes of this work suggested that over 50 percent of the cross-border truck trips at Pacific Highway are made by just 15 percent of the carriers who use the crossing.
WCOG then worked with agencies to hold a series of workshops and exhibition information booths that provided details on joining the FAST program, either as a driver or as a carrier company.
Lynden Data Collection Effort
Additional data collection was completed southbound at the Lynden/Aldergrove Port-of-Entry. While FAST clearance of a loaded truck requires enrollment of the driver, the carrier, and the importer, FAST clearance of an empty truck would only require driver and carrier enrollment. The Lynden port-of-entry is often congested with "empties"-hypothesized to be a result of trucks avoiding longer waits at Pacific Highway. To assess and respond to this dynamic, CBP recommended an intercept survey at Lynden to identify frequent, empty carriers and encourage them to apply for and use FAST at Pacific Highway.
Analysis of the data collected showed that there is a significant, yet smaller-than-expected set of frequent, empty carriers who would seem better served by a FAST lane at Pacific Highway. Most carriers crossing south at Lynden (empty and loaded) are either leaving from origins closer to that port or are headed to destinations close to Lynden and thus would likely view Pacific Highway as off the best route.
2008 Marketing Efforts
In 2008, a northbound FAST lane was opened at Pacific Highway port-of-entry in Blaine, Washington. As part of an effort to inform regional carriers about the new lane, and to learn why carrier companies are or are not enrolled in both Canadian and U.S. FAST programs, phone interviews were conducted.
Using data gathered in 2006, WCOG developed a target audience for FAST marketing efforts, based on the frequency of crossings that the carrier made. The 7,354 estimated truck trips in the survey week (including an estimated 25 percent empty trucks) were made by 891 observed carrier companies. Of those carriers:the top 5 percent of most frequently crossing loaded carriers account for a third of southbound truck trips; and the top 13 percent of most frequently crossing loaded carriers account for half of the southbound truck trips.
WCOG filtered the top 50 carrier companies from the 2006 data. Of these, 33 carriers responded to survey questions, and 28 of the 33 completed interviews. The companies interviewed represent 23 percent of all truck trips observed during the survey week. The objectives of the phone interviews were to collect basic fleet and travel pattern information; determine their enrollment status in or knowledge of U.S. and Canadian FAST programs; inform them of the new northbound FAST lane at Pacific Highway; and find out if they are interested in joining the program.
Results from the interview process are detailed in the final report. Main challenges to greater FAST usage in the Cascade Gateway were identified as:
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A lack of shippers enrolled in the program
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Frequency of less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments (which have multiper shippers, therefore, unlikely to have all shippers enrolled in C-TPAT)
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The cost and hassle of joining both programs, especially for small companies.
More details of these responses and changes based on feedback that could help make the program more successful in this region are included in the final report.
For More Information
Contact Melissa Miller, Project Coordinator, at (360) 676-6974.