On October 2, 2026, the Canadian Trucking Alliance reported that the CBSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are returning the FAST enrolment interview scheduling window to two years. It had been five. The change takes effect April 1, 2027.
FAST stands for Free and Secure Trade. Applicants who receive conditional approval on or after April 1, 2027 must schedule their interview within two years of that approval. Anyone approved before that date has until April 1, 2029, or five years from their approval date, whichever comes first.
The five-year window was a pandemic-era stretch. The agencies say enrolment interview capacity is now fully restored, so the standard timeline is coming back. Global News reported the same deadline change for NEXUS applicants on the same day.
What This Means for Manitoba Shippers
Nothing changes at the border tomorrow morning. Your trucks keep rolling, and no lane closes on April 1, 2027. This is a paperwork clock, not a border restriction.
The effect shows up slowly, in the driver pool. Cross-border capacity depends on how many drivers a carrier can keep cleared and ready, and a shorter window means enrolment files can no longer sit for years. Carriers that track their pipelines will barely notice. Carriers that don’t may find a few conditional approvals expired when they needed the drivers.
For a shipper, that translates into a simple question at quote time. Any logistics company quoting you a Winnipeg-to-U.S. lane should be able to tell you how its cross-border driver roster is built and who is responsible for keeping it current.
We are not predicting a capacity crunch. Nothing in the announcement says that, and we haven’t seen data to support it. What we can say is that a firm deadline rewards planning, and planning is something you can ask about before you commit freight.
What Changed, and What Didn’t
Here is the sequence as the announcement lays it out. Conditional approval comes first. The applicant then completes in-person interviews with both U.S. and Canadian authorities, booking through their Trusted Traveler Programs account. Applicants can turn on mobile app notifications to catch openings as they appear.
What changed is only the length of time an applicant has to book that interview. Two dates matter:
- Approved on or after April 1, 2027: two years from approval to schedule the interview.
- Approved before April 1, 2027: until April 1, 2029, or five years from approval, whichever is earlier.
The CBSA also warned, as quoted by Global News, that applications are considered expired once the applicable timelines are exceeded. An expired file means starting over, and for a driver that is lost time.
What did not change in the announcement: the requirement for interviews with both countries, the use of the Trusted Traveler Programs account for booking, and the fact that interview capacity is described as fully restored. We are not aware of any change to FAST eligibility rules, and we won’t guess at any.
Why a Two-Year Clock Matters for Driver Pipelines
Think of enrolment as a queue with an expiry date. A driver gets conditional approval, then has to find an interview slot that fits around runs, home time and appointments in two countries. Under the five-year window, a missed month meant little. Under two years, it still leaves room, but not for drifting.
Dispatchers know how this goes. The paperwork that gets done is the paperwork someone owns. When no one owns it, it waits for a slow week, and slow weeks are rare in a freight market that is waking up.
The practical response for any trucking company is dull and effective. Keep a list of every driver with a conditional approval and the date it was granted. Put the interview deadline in the same calendar as licence renewals and medicals. Review it monthly, not annually.
A top trucking company treats that kind of housekeeping as part of the service rather than a back-office chore. You never see it, but you feel it when a cross-border load goes out on time because the right driver was cleared months earlier.
The same logic applies to owner-operators and small fleets that run under another carrier’s authority. If your lanes depend on a leased driver’s enrolment, ask the trucking company who tracks the deadline. In many cases the answer is nobody, which is exactly the gap a two-year window exposes.
The Cost Pressure Behind the Paperwork
Carriers are not dealing with this in a quiet market. A Trucking HR Canada survey conducted by Abacus Data, published by the CTA on October 2, found 54% of Canadian trucking leaders expect business to improve over the next year. Twenty-six per cent expect stability, and 9% expect things to get worse.
The same survey found 96% of respondents concerned about rising operating costs, and 91% concerned about the impact of the Trump administration on trade. The share worried about trade had climbed from 58% in 2024. Another 82% flagged recession risk.
Put those numbers next to the FAST change and the picture is practical. Carriers are optimistic about volume while watching costs and trade policy closely. Every administrative deadline competes with fuel, insurance, equipment and labour for management attention.
That matters to you because the logistics trucking company that stays organized under cost pressure is the one that shows up when your product is ready to ship. A carrier that is stretched thin tends to find out about deadlines after they pass.
Questions to Ask Any Carrier Before You Book Cross-Border Lanes
You don’t need to become an expert in trusted-trader programs. You need a few direct questions and a carrier willing to answer them plainly.
- Who owns the drivers? A carrier with employee drivers controls its own scheduling. A broker is relying on someone else’s roster.
- How many drivers run cross-border regularly? The number matters less than whether they can name it without checking.
- Who tracks enrolment and renewal dates? You want a person’s name or a job title, not a shrug.
- What happens if a driver is out? Ask for the backup plan on your specific lane.
- How do they handle customs paperwork? Delays at the border are often document problems, not driver problems.
A logistics trucking company that can answer all five in one phone call usually runs its own equipment and knows its own operation. The top trucking company for your freight is rarely the one with the lowest rate per kilometre.
If your freight also needs storage or consolidation before it crosses, ask the same questions about the warehouse side. Our supply chain services page explains how that fits with transportation.
How Keen Runs Cross-Border Freight
Keen Transport & Logistics is an asset-based carrier. We run 100+ trucks and 220+ trailers out of Winnipeg with our own drivers and our own dispatch. We are not a broker, and we don’t hand your load to a stranger once it’s booked.
Cross-border work is built into how we operate. We hold C-TPAT certification, we are US and Canada bonded, and our dispatch line is staffed around the clock at (204) 943-5336. Across more than 49,450 loads, we have kept a 97.8% on-time delivery record.
As a logistics company that also runs its own fleet, we know the record doesn’t come from one thing. It comes from owning the equipment, employing the drivers and keeping the paperwork current. As a logistics trucking company based in Winnipeg, we deal with shippers from aerospace, retail, manufacturing, and pulse and special crop exporters, and they all ask versions of the questions above.
If you ship by the truckload, our full truck load services cover dedicated lanes within Manitoba, across Canada and into the U.S. If you are a driver thinking about your own next move, our careers page lists current openings.
We won’t claim to know how every carrier will handle the April 2027 change. We can tell you that any logistics company worth hiring should have an answer ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the new FAST interview deadline start?
The two-year window applies to conditional approvals granted on or after April 1, 2027. If a driver was approved before that date, the older rule still applies, up to April 1, 2029 or five years from approval, whichever comes first.
Does this change affect my freight crossing the border now?
No. The announcement changes only the interview scheduling timeframe for applicants. It doesn’t close lanes or add inspection requirements, and nothing in it affects loads moving today.
How do I find a reliable trucking company near me in Manitoba?
Start with ownership. Ask whether the carrier runs its own trucks and employs its own drivers, then ask for on-time delivery figures and certifications such as C-TPAT. A reliable carrier answers those questions in the first conversation.
What should I look for in a top trucking company for U.S. lanes?
Look for a carrier that is bonded for both countries, holds C-TPAT certification and can explain how it tracks driver paperwork. Ask who handles problems after hours. The best carriers have a real person on the phone at any time.
Can a small business get a quote from a trucking company near me without a long-term contract?
Yes. Many carriers price single loads as well as regular lanes. Send the origin, destination, commodity, weight and pickup date, and a good dispatcher can quote the lane the same day.
What does an asset-based carrier mean for my shipment?
It means the trucking company owns the trucks and employs the drivers moving your freight. You deal with the people doing the work, and there is no broker margin between your load and the truck. When something changes on the road, dispatch can act directly.
Where can I get a cross-border quote from a Winnipeg trucking company near me?
Call dispatch at (204) 943-5336 or use the contact page. Have the pickup and delivery points ready.
Ship With a Carrier That Owns Its Fleet
Keen Transport & Logistics runs 100+ trucks and 220+ trailers out of Winnipeg, with a 97.8% on-time record across more than 49,450 loads. No broker markup, no handing your freight to a stranger — our equipment, our drivers, our dispatch.
Call 24/7 dispatch at (204) 943-5336, email info@keentransport.ca, or request a free quote and we’ll price your lane the same day.