There is also a seal added at Canadian Border crossings, if your Trailer is not sealed. It will be required, and the Crossing Guard will add the number to your Transit Manifest, and put the seal on before you are cleared to resume enroute.

If I know I will be crossing the Border...I make a habit of asking for my Trailer to be sealed at the Shipper.

Alot of people b*tch about going to Laredo, personally I love that run especially since I was running the Northeast all winter.

But picking up a load that originated in Mexico that is sealed can be a pain depending how good or bad, the Mexicans loaded the trailer.
You might get say only 25klbs, but it the load could be sitting all the way at the nose of the trailer.

Another thing I dont like is those bolts they put on. You need a really big pair of bolt cutters to get those things off. But they do fly really good, especially if you throw 'em at another company driver. :lol:

Ok you have not used a Seal on a flatbed, have you used a Load lock on a flatbed? HAHAHAAH

load lock on the flatbed, well with there being no sides to wedge the load lock into.............hmmm.........course things get locked down pretty good with the straps and chains and occasional bolt to the deck........

Seals
 

"The foregoing applies to Dry Vans, ..... but not to Flatbeds" Not necessarily. A government load (jet engine in a can) required that it be "sealed". The guy with the paperwork said absolutely, I looked at him like he was out of his mind, he said I couldn't leave without a seal on the load (flatbed), so I put one of my plastic serialized seals thru the ratchet, showing him it couldn't be moved w/o breaking the seal, he annotated the seal number on the paperwork, and I was on my way from NAS Norfolk to Ft Campbell. BOL

I used my steering column lock as a seal breacher more times than as a steering column lock. :o I would just slip the bar through the metal or plastic seal and with a quick tug, it's off with no sweat.

If the spacing between the other trailers would allow, I'd back the trailer up with the doors closed until about 10 feet from the dock, then I'd get out and pop the seal so that the lumper can observe that the seal was not breached until right then. If that wasn't possible, I'd at least get the back of the trailer in sight from the open dock spacing and open the doors there. In other cases, the instructions by the security guard or dockmaster were to go ahead and pop the seal, open the doors, and leave the broken seal near the end of the trailer to confirm that the numbers matched. Other companies could have cared less.

The mighty plastic seal saved me from a big headache one time after dropping off a loaded trailer, in which I was to pick up an empty for the next load. I got underneath the trailer, I went around and did a circle check on the trailer and noticed a red plastic seal. "Hmmm... why is there a seal on an MT? I better find out!" I popped the seal and opened the doors... "why lookie hear, it's loaded! haha" The shipping/receiving office made a slight goof and was able to give me a different trailer, then I explained to the security guard what happened and that I popped the seal and off I went. Even if that seal wasn't there, I would have opened the doors anyways just to check to see how dirty the inside was and if I needed to sweep it out, but having a seal on what was supposed to be an empty trailer was puzzling at first!

Additionally, the company policy was to have a trailer lock on the doors even if it was empty. This prevented unwanted guests or unwanted cargo from mysteriously entering an MT trailer when left unattended.

Great post skywalker :) Keep em comin!

There is yet another seal that has not been discussed here. The Sealock. I got one of these on a container from Guatemala. http://www.sealock.com/sealock_model_su2005.html Would you believe they had to grind that sucker off? And part of it was still attached to the can!

I was puzzled, since the only thing on board was 10 skids of that rubbery stuff they use for the soles of flip-flops(hold your nose when you open it). I'm thinking it was used not to keep the cargo in, but to keep unauthorized cargo out. :?

with all the cross border travel I do, nearly every load is sealed with either a cable or bolt seal. Our company even has their own bolt seals now for loads that the shipper does not require a seal. All our loads crossing into the US must have a secureity seal on it, meaning a cable style or a bolt style. Just make sure you got a pair of bolt cutters cause it takes a helluva long time to break a bolt seal trying to smash it off with a hammer!

I have forgotten to put a seal on a load, and when I gotten to the receiver, and they see I have forgooten, they just told me, put the seal on, and then they pull it off.