When the primary cargo does not have the true shipper, consignee, and a thorough description of the goods, the CBSA considers it as a consolidated shipment, even if it comprises only one shipment.

In the case of a multi-tiered consolidation (for instance, if one freight forwarder sells a portion or all of the container space to another freight forwarder), the master loader (for example, the freight forwarder who has a contract with the primary carrier) files a consolidated house bill that lists the co-loader (such as the freight forwarder who has a contract with the master loader) as the shipper/consignee. Then, the co-loader transmits electronic house bills for all the shipments within that consolidation.

The individual house bills display the primary carrier’s CCN as the primary CCN, and the house bill close message displays the CCN of the master loader’s house bill as the previous CCN. This process repeats for any number of consolidation levels until the CBSA receives the information of the true shipper, consignee, and a complete description of the goods.