Federal officials have awarded a grant to develop and test a database system to identify and track trucks at the U.S.-Canadian border between Detroit and Windsor.

According to the Detroit Free Press, a Detroit ferry company won the $135,000 federal grant. Initially, the system could help keep trucks carrying hazardous materials from illegally crossing the Ambassador bridge or Detroit-Windsor tunnel, reports the paper. If the system is successful, it could be expanded to all trucks and all U.S. land-border crossings.
The ferry company transports trucks carrying hazardous materials across the border because it is illegal for such trucks to use the bridge or tunnel. During the next year, the company, with the help of computer consultants, will develop and test the database on the approximately 40 haz-mat trucks that use the ferry daily. These regular customers will be registered in the database and be required to call in a list of cargo and estimated times of arrival. That information will be available to Customs, immigration and security officials on both sides of the Detroit River before the hazardous materials loads arrive. Officials will be able to identify if a carrier is authorized to cross the border, if he has his proper license, or if the company is on a watch list.
Future plans would see the system expanded to all trucks, installed at Customs inspections points and made accessible through a secure web site. The information going into the database would also be encoded on a magnetic smart card carried by the trucker. Instead of the company calling in the required information, the driver would swipe the card through a reader along the road before he got to the border, perhaps at a weigh station.