5. Land (Road and Rail)

Learning objectives

✓	Outline how cargo reporting and import declaration procedures at land borders compare with those at air and sea ports.
✓	Explain the value of border cooperation between neighboring customs administrations and the principle of single check point control.
✓	Describe how customs handles the different complexities of road and rail cargo, including mixed consignee loads and rail transit movements.

Land border crossings present significant challenges to Customs because of the volume of people and vehicles that pass through every day. Generally, however, the cargo reporting procedures and import declaration process are the same as for air and sea cargo. The provision of advance information at a land border considerably speeds up the process, as it does in an air or sea environment.

A land border is also a unique point where two customs administrations may operate alongside each other, dealing with the export and import of goods.

Border cooperation between neighboring countries has significant advantages for both countries.

What border cooperation delivers

01 Time saved

Goods clear faster when authorities do not duplicate checks on either side of the border.

02 Cost saved

Avoids two sets of inspection infrastructure, two staffing rosters, and duplicated paperwork.

03 Human resources saved

Both customs administrations and economic operators avoid repeating the same work twice.

Cargo passing through land borders needs to be reported by the carrier. The form of this report is a cargo manifest based on consignment notes. This allows Customs to risk-assess the consignments. Cargo can be carried in inter-modal containers, road trailers, or rail freight wagons, and each can hold either a single-consignee or a mixed-consignee load.

How cargo can be carried across land borders

	Single-consignee load	Mixed-consignee load
Inter-modal container	One importer fills the container.	Multiple importers share the container.
Road trailer or rail wagon	One importer fills the trailer or wagon.	Multiple importers share the trailer or wagon.

The different types of carriage in both road and rail add to the complexity of examination for customs purposes. Three issues stand out:

01 Knock-on delays

Examining one targeted consignment in a mixed-consignee load holds up every other consignment in the same container or trailer.

02 Distance from final destination

Final deconsolidation and delivery may be hundreds of kilometers inside the country, far from where the examination occurred.

03 Driver detention

Holding a truck at the border for examination, whether of one consignment or the whole load, keeps the driver waiting for an extended period.

How road and rail examinations differ

Road	Rail
Trucks selected for examination are diverted to an examination area, usually alongside the border crossing	Examination is unlikely to occur at the border crossing
Examination may require full unloading of the contents of the container or trailer, which could delay the truck for up to 12 hours	Trains may be delayed if all cargo has not been reported, but the fuller examination takes place at a designated cargo depot further inside the importing country, sometimes at the ultimate cargo destination
Container X-ray facilities and truck-mounted X-rays are present at a number of border crossings and can considerably speed up the process	Special transit provisions are in place in most countries to allow this type of movement