Import Permit Required for Shipborne Dunnage

Trade Update • January 18, 2023

s of July 6, 2023, port terminals in Canada accepting the discharge of shipborne dunnage must obtain an import permit. To obtain a permit to import, stakeholders will need to complete an application for the shipborne dunnage program in which the CFIA must approve a preventative control plan and the facility to be used.

Earlier this week, CFIA revised its previously published Directive D-98-08 to include specific import requirements for dunnage entering Canada through marine vessels. A new shipborne dunnage management program has been developed to address this significant risk and is described in detail in Directive RMD-20-02.

Shipborne Dunnage

Shipborne dunnage is a type of wood packaging material (WPM) used in marine vessels to stabilize or brace cargo during ocean transport. Like other types of WPM, dunnage is generally made from low-quality wood that is more likely to be infested with forest pests than the wood used for other forest products. Upon the arrival of a ship in the port, the cargo is discharged, and the dunnage is then separated from the cargo and is often left at the port and treated as waste material. The origin of the cargo and the origin of the dunnage are not always the same, so the risk and types of potentially harmful pests that could be introduced through this pathway cannot be consistently known with any certainty.

Questions about these this import requirement and/or how to obtain an import permit, contact us, we’re here to help.