Service Time Variability at the Blaine, Washington International Border Crossing and the Impact on Regional Supply Chains

This paper describes how service times at vehicle processing facilities (borders, weigh stations, landside marine port gates) are variable, thereby causing transportation planning challenges for companies that regularly visit them on a regular basis. Companies must either build in more time than is necessary, therefore underutilizing their equipment, or risk missing delivery windows, which can incur fines or cause lost business opportunities. This paper examines border crossing times at Blaine, Washington between Whatcom County, Washington and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The paper considers the variability in crossing times at this border crossing, and the impact of this variability on regional supply chains. The paper presents variability data collected for bi-directional trade. Directional, daily, hourly, and seasonal variations are examined. The paper conducted interviews with regional carriers to better understand the current response to variability, the benefit of a reduction in variability, and how this is related to the good moved or other business operating characteristics. This paper describes the level of variability in border crossing times and describes carriers’ responses to this variability. The paper shows that the primary strategy used, increasing buffer times, reduces carrier productivity. However, this cost is negligible due to the current nature of the market.