Customs offices on the Blue Water Bridge are rolling out a voluntary program to make security checkpoints faster and track more than 100,000 commercial trucks crossing between Port Huron, Mich., and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada each month.

The Free and Secure Trade initiative was enacted last month by U.S. and Canadian immigration services and the U.S. Customs Service. The system allows security officials to examine trucks more quickly by providing them with background information on the shippers and truck drivers.
The initiative has been enacted at three border crossings. In addition to Port Huron, the other two crossings are Detroit-Windsor and Buffalo-Fort Erie.
"The FAST program is a key component of building a smarter border with Canada," Robert Bonner, U.S. Customs commissioner told the Port Huron Times-Herald. "It provides our commercial-trade partners with the means to help both America and Canada combat terrorism while, at the same time, expediting movement of cargo into and through our ports."
"The timing of this [during the holidays] did result in lower enrollment," said Kevin Weeks, director of field operations for the U.S. Customs Service in Michigan. He expects a large number of enrollments in the program once plants reopen in early January.
The program requires shippers, and each of their commercial truck drivers, to fill out application forms the customs offices will use to run criminal background checks. Once the shippers and drivers complete the forms, pay a $50 application fee and are approved, they receive a security card. The card electronically transmits security information to customs agents at inspection stations on either side of the bridge.
Having the information instantly available will allow customs and immigration officers to inspect shippers quicker, Weeks said.
"Our crossings are rather congested," he said. "We're trying to intelligently manage that traffic by using these kinds of initiatives."
To be eligible for the program, importers and their carriers must be enrolled in the U.S. Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.
Importers aren't required to join the new program, but they can expect their shipments to be inspected more often and more thoroughly if they don't, Weeks said.
The agency would be pleased to see 70% to 80% of importers use the program, he said.