Heightened Security Slows Cross-Border Traffic

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hen the United States went to war with Iraq last March, Canadian Labatt Brewing Co. found itself with a big problem on the home front.

With increased security at the U.S.-Canada border, trucks delivering beer to the United States were stuck for up to 14 hours at U.S. ports of entry, including Labatt’s main route along westbound Route 401 to the Detroit-Windsor bridge.

For Labatt, whose trucks typically cross the border 20 times a week, delivering products to duty-free shops, the backups due to increased security caused duty-free stores to postpone shipments by days and, in some cases, even weeks, because customers, also tired of waiting in the lines, were not patronizing the shops, Labatt spokesman Nigel Miller told Transport Topics.

“Huge backups have a detrimental effect on the flow of traffic in the stores,” he said. “The main challenge we are having with crossing into the U.S. is delays resulting from increased security at U.S. Customs.”

For the full story, see the Sept. 22 edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.