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No driver is "CTPAT certified." CTPAT membership belongs to a company: the carrier, the importer, the manufacturer, the customs broker. Drivers hold a FAST card, which is a separate program. Which legs of a load need a CTPAT carrier is set by your customer's security program. CBP publishes no per-leg rule, and neither does Cargado. What you can do is know which company is on each leg, ask the customer which of them must be certified, and post the requirement only where it applies.
What CTPAT actually certifies
CTPAT, the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, is a voluntary supply chain security program run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Members are businesses: U.S. importers and exporters, U.S.-Mexico highway carriers, Mexican long-haul highway carriers, licensed U.S. customs brokers, Mexican manufacturers and a few other categories. A company joins by meeting CBP's minimum security criteria for its category and signing a partner agreement. The benefits CBP lists include a reduced number of CBP examinations, front-of-the-line inspections and, for shipments that qualify, access to FAST lanes at the land border. Reduced is not zero. CBP keeps the right to examine any shipment.
Two of those categories decide the leg question:
- A U.S.-Mexico highway carrier must be an active international border-crossing carrier with a U.S. DOT number and a SCAC. This is the company that takes the trailer across.
- A Mexican long-haul highway carrier, by CBP's own definition, does not cross the U.S. border. It moves cargo bound for the U.S. inside Mexico and hands off at the border.
So on a through-trailer move north, the Mexican linehaul carrier and the crossing carrier are two different CTPAT categories, and often two different companies. That is the fact most of the confusion comes from.
Does every driver need to be CTPAT certified?
No. CTPAT has no driver membership. The carrier company holds the certification and screens its own drivers as part of meeting the criteria.
What a driver holds is FAST, the Free and Secure Trade program. FAST is an individual enrollment for commercial drivers from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, age 18 or older with a valid license. A FAST card lets a driver use the FAST lane, but only on a FAST-eligible shipment. On the Mexico border that means the importer, the highway carrier and the Mexican manufacturer are all CTPAT members, the driver has a FAST card, and the manufacturer sealed the trailer at loading with a high-security seal that meets ISO 17712. In CBP's own words, FAST "requires that every link in the supply chain, from manufacturer to carrier to driver to importer, is certified" under CTPAT.
So when a customer asks about drivers, the real question is whether this is a FAST load. If it is, you need a FAST driver on the crossing, and the importer, the crossing carrier and the Mexican manufacturer all in CTPAT. If it is not, drivers are not part of the requirement.
Who decides which legs need a CTPAT carrier?
Your customer does, usually the importer, through its written security program. CBP's criteria make a CTPAT member responsible for the business partners who directly handle its cargo, and CBP accepts CTPAT membership, or membership in an approved mutual-recognition program, as proof that a partner meets the criteria. For a partner that is not certified, the member has to do its own due diligence. That is why importers push CTPAT down to their carriers: it is the simplest way to meet their own obligation.
There is no CBP rule that says "legs one and two need CTPAT and leg three does not." Get the customer's answer in writing: which legs, which companies and what proof they want. A routing guide, an SOP or an email all work.
Walk the load leg by leg
A northbound through-trailer load usually has three carrier touches. How through-trailer and transloading moves work.
Pickup and the haul inside Mexico. This is the Mexican long-haul highway carrier category. The trailer is sealed here, at loading. If your customer requires CTPAT "from origin," this is the company it means. If the Mexican shipper's own security program restricts who enters its yard, ask the customer how the carrier gets cleared at the gate.
The border crossing. The transfer carrier that shuttles the trailer over the bridge is the company that arrives at the port of entry with the trailer, and it is a U.S.-Mexico highway carrier in CBP's terms. If a customer requires CTPAT "at the crossing," the status to check is the transfer company's, not only the linehaul carrier you booked. Ask the carrier who crosses the trailer and under what arrangement. CBP's criteria already push a CTPAT carrier that subcontracts a U.S.-bound move to use a certified carrier or one under a written contract that requires the same security criteria.
Delivery in the U.S. A carrier that only runs inside the U.S. cannot join CTPAT as a highway carrier; CBP's highway carrier category is for active international border-crossing carriers. Its criteria define the carrier's supply chain from the yard, through pickup, through to the point of distribution, so some programs want the certified crossing carrier to deliver end to end, or vet the domestic carrier themselves. Others stop at U.S. entry. Ask.
Southbound. CTPAT is built around cargo entering the U.S., but U.S. exporters can be members, and Mexico runs its own program. When a southbound load carries a security requirement, follow the customer's program the same way: leg by leg, company by company.
Does OEA count instead of CTPAT?
Mexico's program is OEA, Operador Económico Autorizado, run by SAT. The U.S. and Mexico signed a mutual recognition arrangement in October 2014. Under CBP's criteria, certification in CTPAT or in an approved mutual-recognition program is acceptable proof that a business partner meets the partner requirements. Mutual recognition does not turn an OEA member into a CTPAT member, and CBP says it does not exempt anyone from other CBP requirements. Whether your customer accepts OEA on a given leg is the customer's call. Ask, and get it in writing. On Cargado, OEA is its own checkbox, separate from CTPAT.
How to post a CTPAT load on Cargado
The posting form has a Carrier Requirements section with checkboxes for CTPAT Certified, OEA Certified, FAST Certified and International Carrier Bonded for the US and Mexico. Each box you check narrows who hears about the posting: a carrier is notified only if its profile clears every requirement you turned on. A carrier that finds the posting on its own can still bid, but it will not be told about it. Why a posting goes quiet.
- Check CTPAT Certified when your customer requires it for the carrier you are booking on Cargado. If the requirement is only on the crossing and the crossing is handled by a transfer company you already have, the linehaul carrier may not need it.
- Check FAST Certified only when the load has to run the FAST lane. The box describes the carrier's profile; the FAST card belongs to the driver on the crossing, so confirm that driver too.
- Do not check OEA Certified as a stand-in for CTPAT unless the customer accepts it.
- Under Border Crossing, set whether the transfer is Pre-set transfer or Transfer by carrier, so the carrier knows who is expected to cross. How to post Mexico freight.
- Write which legs need CTPAT into the posting notes, in the same words your customer used, so the carrier reads the same rule you do.
Then message the suggested carriers and confirm status before you accept a bid. Ask for a copy of the CTPAT certificate. If your customer is a CTPAT member, it can also check a carrier in CBP's Status Verification Interface. How to vet a Mexican carrier.
What to ask your customer before you post
- Which legs need a CTPAT carrier: the crossing only, Mexico plus the crossing, or end to end?
- Does OEA count on any leg?
- Is this a FAST load? If yes, the manufacturer seals at loading and the driver on the crossing needs a FAST card.
- What proof do you want: a certificate, a status check, or a vendor-portal entry?
- Are there other security rules on the same program: seal type, tracking, no-stop zones, approved routes?
This article is general information. Your customer's written security program and CBP set the actual requirements.
