CROSS-BORDER LOGISTICS
We run the back office for freight brokers, 3PLs, trucking companies and freight forwarders moving loads across the US, Canada and Mexico borders. Your loads get billed in the right currency. Carrier invoices get checked before they are paid, and your accounts receivable (AR) gets worked every week. The border paperwork gets collected with the billing file, not hunted down later when a customer disputes the invoice.
THE CROSS-BORDER BACK OFFICE
Cross-border freight adds a second currency, a second regulator, and customs paperwork to every load. US-Mexico lanes bring MXN billing, the pedimento, and Mexican carrier requirements. US-Canada lanes bring CAD billing, GST/HST treatment, and PARS and PAPS processing. The back office carries all of it and keeps the border paperwork matched to the billing file.
Running domestic Canadian freight rather than cross-border lanes? Our Canada back-office page covers that.
Cross-border margins live and die on documentation timing. PARS and PAPS references that do not match the load file stall invoices on both sides of the border, customs broker fees arrive weeks after delivery and get absorbed instead of passed through, and detention at the border is only billable when the timestamps were captured in the moment. A billing desk that assembles the border paperwork with the invoice, instead of hunting it at dispute time, keeps cross-border freight paying like domestic freight.
Invoice Accuracy
DSO Reduction
Reporting
ClearLane is a managed service, not software. You pick the functions you want off your plate, and a dedicated team runs them every day inside your own TMS and accounting system. Plenty of clients start with one function and add more once they see it working.
Cross-border paperwork runs on its own calendar. Northbound, the ACI eManifest has to be transmitted before the truck reaches the border. Southbound, the pedimento and the Mexican carrier requirements attached to it sit on the same load file. Get a PARS or PAPS reference wrong and the invoice stalls on both sides.
Canada changed the rules in January 2026. CARM is now the permanent system for customs accounting, and a customs broker business number can no longer be used to account for goods on the importer behalf. Importers of record carry their own registration and financial security, and that paperwork needs to reach your billing file.
We collect the border documents alongside the billing paperwork, so the invoice and the proof leave together.
Loads billed in USD, MXN, or CAD need one conversion method and one rate date. When the rate gets picked ad hoc, margin moves with the exchange rate instead of the contract, and a mismatched invoice gets disputed, not paid.
Customs entry, brokerage, and border-crossing fees are passthroughs to the customer. On US-Mexico moves that includes the pedimento and Mexican carrier charges; on US-Canada it includes PARS and PAPS processing. When those receipts do not reach billing, the fee gets absorbed.
Many cross-border loads change carriers at the border, so a single move can carry a US carrier, a drayage leg, and a Mexican or Canadian carrier, each with its own invoice and accessorials. Without a leg-by-leg audit, duplicate or mismatched charges slip through.
Certificates of origin, commercial invoices, and customs entry records have to be complete before a customer pays and before freight clears the border. A missing USMCA or customs document stalls both the invoice and the load.
We catalog your currencies, your tax treatment matrix as documented by your accountant, customs documentation requirements by lane, and your payor list with terms per customer.
Training covers your invoicing rules per currency, documentation standards per lane, and your TMS workflows. Your best biller’s process becomes the documented standard.
Invoices go out in the correct currency with complete documentation attached. Carrier invoices are verified against rate confirmations before payment. AR follow-up runs on a set cadence, tracked by currency and payor country.
New lanes, new customers, new currencies on the same workflows. Scope-based pricing scales with your freight in both directions.
The result is a back office that treats cross-border complexity as routine instead of exceptions:
ClearLane logs into the TMS and accounting systems you already run. We do not bring in our own platform or move your data somewhere else. Our team learns your setup and works right inside it, so your information stays where it belongs and nothing about your workflow has to change.
Yes. Billing workflows are configured per currency and per customer agreement, so USD, CAD, and MXN invoices run side by side without manual conversion steps at billing time.
We apply the tax treatment your accountant documents, consistently, on every invoice. We do not provide tax advice; we make sure the rules you already have are actually followed.
Shipper billing in every currency, POD and customs document collection, carrier invoice verification, compliance monitoring across U.S., Canadian, and Mexican authorities, and structured AR follow-up.
The same scope-based model as every ClearLane engagement: pricing scales with your operation, up or down. A 20-minute call gets you a custom quote for your operation.
Yes. Dedicated teams work inside your existing TMS and follow your workflows. There is no migration and no new platform for your staff to learn.
PARS or PAPS references, the commercial invoice, customs broker confirmations, and any inspection or delay records, matched to the load file so the customer invoice carries its own proof. When a shipper questions a charge, the documentation is already attached instead of scattered across dispatch inboxes.
Capture detention, border delays, and accessorials before the invoice goes out.
Verify carrier invoices in either currency against the rate confirmation.
Monitor carrier authority and insurance on both sides of the border.
Get Started
Most cross-border clients start with one piece, often carrier invoice audit or billing on a single lane, then grow into the full workflow once the first process proves itself.
