Are You Using Wood Packaging?

If your cross border shipments are packaged or palletized with wood (pallets, crates, etc.), it is vital to ensure the wood packaging materials are properly treated (either heat treated or chemically with methyl bromide) and marked with the appropriate ISPM 15 stamp. Without this, US Customs may deny your shipment entry at the border.


What is ISPM 15 Certification

This is a US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) initiative to decrease the risk of importing foreign insects and federal noxious weeds that may reside in wood packaging materials (WPM). US Customs will immediately force the export of noncompliant wood packaging material. This includes material that is incorrectly marked, unmarked, or marked but found to be infested with a live wood-boring pest or seeds. Product found to be shipped on unacceptable pallets also runs the risk of being destroyed.

Though all freight shipping cross border can be subject to inspection, those traveling on unmarked pallets have an increased probability of being denied. In the event of denied entry, additional charges will be incurred as a result of off loading or direct exportation.

We were also advised that properly marked pallets that are found to have the stamp faded, painted over or defaced may also be denied entry.



How CSA Minimizes Risk

At CSA Transportation we will do our best to be proactive in this initiative by conducting spot checks. If our spot checks discover that your product is being shipped on noncompliant foreign pallets we will exchange pallets on your behalf at an additional cost. However, CSA will not take responsibility for any charges incurred at the border due to your products being shipped on noncompliant pallets.

CSA does not have any choice in this matter but we are doing every thing we can to inform our clients and minimize their exposure to unnecessary charges.


For more information about the specific regulation please visit: https://www.ippc.int

Useful Documents


These document downloads are PDF files. For best results, you should first save the file and then open it with the latest version of Adobe Reader.

The files have been designed as fillable forms that you can fill out (partially or completely) and if necessary, save again to reuse later on (with partially completed information, for example if you have regular orders between the same locations you can download a Bill of Lading and save it with all the required location information ).


To take advantage of this functionality please right click the blue "download" text and save the file to your computer.



Note: If you are attempting to view any of the below documents in your browser by clicking on them directly, you may not be able to use the fillable form fields. Check if your browser supports the adobe plugin here and follow the steps to add the adobe plugin to your browser. If you can't get the in-browser forms to work just "right click" and download the PDF, then open with Adobe Reader.


Please contact us if you have additional questions or feedback .