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Upload your documents. Porter classifies every line item, returns the duty rate, calculates the amount owed in CAD, and submits directly to CBSA — with your licensed broker’s approval at every step.
Tariff classification is the most consequential and time-consuming part of customs entry processing. Every shipment requires a correct 10-digit Canadian tariff item. The wrong classification means the wrong duty rate, the wrong duty amount, potential CBSA penalties, post-entry amendments, and audit exposure. And it happens line by line, shipment by shipment, all day long.
Most customs brokerages handle classification the same way they always have: an entry writer looks up the commodity, cross-references the Canadian Customs Tariff schedule, applies their judgment, and keys in the code. On a good day with an experienced writer and a familiar commodity type, this works. On a bad day — new commodity, junior staff, high volume, tight deadline — it doesn’t.
Porter was built to solve the capacity and consistency problem in customs brokerage classification. Not to replace the licensed broker’s judgment. To ensure that every line item on every shipment gets a rigorous, consistent first pass — so the licensed broker can focus on reviewing, approving, and submitting rather than researching and keying from scratch.
EntryPoint AI delivers AI agents for trade businesses who want to compete with larger firms—without hiring more staff.
Step 1: Upload Your Document
Porter accepts the document formats your operation already uses. No reformatting required, no manual data entry before submission:
PDF — scanned or digital
Word documents (.doc, .docx)
Excel spreadsheets (.xls, .xlsx)
Images (.jpg, .png)
Commercial invoices, packing lists, pro forma invoices, supplier documents — Porter reads them all. Upload the document exactly as you received it from the shipper or importer.
Step 2: Porter Extracts and Classifies Every Line Item
Porter reads the uploaded document and extracts each commodity line automatically. For every line item extracted, Porter returns:
Suggested 10-digit Canadian tariff item (the full tariff classification)
Applicable preferential duty rates — CUSMA, CETA, CCFTA, and other applicable Canadian trade agreements
Applicable treatment codes
Duty amount owed in CAD calculated on the declared value
Confidence rating — how certain Porter is in the suggested classification
Classification rationale — why Porter suggested that tariff item
Every line item is classified in seconds. A commercial invoice with 20 commodity lines returns 20 complete classification packages before your entry writer would have finished the first one manually.
EntryPoint AI delivers AI agents for trade businesses who want to compete with larger firms—without hiring more staff.
Step 3: Junior Staff Review
Porter’s output is presented line by line for review. Your entry writers and import coordinators review each suggested classification, check the rationale, consider the confidence rating, and either approve the suggested code or adjust it before it goes to the licensed broker. This is where Porter trains junior staff in real time — every classification comes with an explanation, so new entry writers develop classification knowledge on live files rather than in theory.
Step 4: Licensed Broker Approval
Every classification — whether approved as suggested or adjusted by junior staff — goes to a licensed broker for final review and approval before CBSA submission. The licensed broker sees the full picture: the suggested code, the junior reviewer’s decision, the confidence rating, the rationale, the duty amount. Nothing submits to CBSA without the licensed broker’s explicit approval. Professional responsibility stays exactly where it belongs.
Step 5: Direct CBSA Submission
Once the licensed broker approves the classification, Porter submits directly to CBSA. No manual re-entry into a separate system. No copying and pasting between platforms. The approved classification goes straight from Porter to CBSA.
EntryPoint AI delivers AI agents for trade businesses who want to compete with larger firms—without hiring more staff.
Step 6: Recorded And Stored
After CBSA submission, Porter stores the complete classification record in your Supabase database. Every detail is captured and searchable:
The original document uploaded
Every commodity line item extracted
Every suggested tariff item and confidence rating
Every classification rationale
What the licensed broker approved and when
The CBSA submission timestamp and confirmation
The full duty assessment — tariff item, applicable rate, CAD amount per line
This gives your customs brokerage a complete, searchable history of every classification Porter has processed. If CBSA ever questions a classification post-entry, the full audit trail is there. If a client asks about duty history for a commodity type, the data is there. If you want to analyze your classification patterns across commodity categories, the records are there.
When classification depends on individual entry writers looking up tariff items manually, you get variation. Two entry writers classifying the same commodity on different days may arrive at different codes. One is having a good day; one is under pressure with a full queue. One has five years of experience with this commodity; the other has never seen it. Porter ensures the starting point is always the same rigorous, comprehensive analysis of the Canadian Customs Tariff — regardless of which team member is handling the file.
The biggest constraint on growth for most Canadian customs brokerages isn’t client relationships or market opportunity — it’s classification capacity. Every additional volume of entries requires more classification time. Porter changes this equation. When classification research is automated, your licensed brokers spend their time reviewing and approving rather than researching and keying. Your entry writers handle more files. Your operation scales without a proportional increase in headcount.
EntryPoint AI delivers AI agents for trade businesses who want to compete with larger firms—without hiring more staff.
New entry writers in a customs brokerage typically take months to develop reliable classification judgment. During that period, they require constant supervision and frequently need to escalate to senior staff for guidance on unfamiliar commodities. Porter compresses this learning curve. Every classification comes with a rationale — a clear explanation of why that tariff item applies to that commodity description. Junior staff review real classifications with explanations on live files, developing commodity knowledge in context rather than from a manual.
Not all classification suggestions are equal. A straightforward textile commodity classifiable to a single chapter is not the same risk as a novel electronic component that could plausibly go to any of three tariff items. Porter’s confidence rating surfaces this distinction automatically. High-confidence classifications can be reviewed quickly. Low-confidence classifications get the additional scrutiny they warrant. Your licensed broker’s attention goes where it matters most.
EntryPoint AI delivers AI agents for trade businesses who want to compete with larger firms—without hiring more staff.
Every step in the Porter workflow is recorded: which document was uploaded, what Porter extracted, what it suggested, what the junior reviewer did with the suggestion, what the licensed broker approved, when CBSA submission occurred, and the full duty assessment. This creates a complete, searchable audit trail that protects your brokerage if a CBSA classification decision is ever questioned post-entry — and gives you a running record of your operation’s classification history by commodity type, trade lane, and client.
AI Classification & Rating Engine for Canadian Customs Brokers
Porter is an AI-powered classification and rating engine built specifically for Canadian customs brokers. It accepts commercial invoices, packing lists, and other trade documents in PDF, Word, Excel, JPG, and PNG formats, extracts every commodity line item automatically, and returns a complete classification package for each line: suggested 10-digit Canadian tariff item, MFN duty rate, applicable preferential rates under CUSMA, CETA, CCFTA and other Canadian trade agreements, applicable treatment codes, duty amount owed in CAD, a confidence rating for each classification, and a rationale explaining why that tariff item was suggested. Once junior staff review and a licensed broker approves, Porter submits directly to CBSA.
No. Porter provides a rigorous, consistent first pass on every line item so the licensed broker can focus on reviewing, approving, and submitting rather than researching and keying from scratch. Every classification — whether approved as suggested or adjusted by junior staff — requires explicit licensed broker approval before CBSA submission. Professional responsibility stays exactly where it belongs: with the licensed customs broker. Porter is a capacity and consistency tool, not a substitute for professional judgment.
Porter accepts PDF (scanned or digital), Word documents (.doc and .docx), Excel spreadsheets (.xls and .xlsx), and image files (.jpg and .png). This covers the full range of commercial invoice and packing list formats that Canadian customs brokerages receive from shippers and importers. There is no reformatting required before upload — Porter reads the document as received.
Porter automatically extracts each commodity line item from the uploaded document using AI-powered document reading. It identifies commodity descriptions, quantities, values, and other relevant fields line by line without requiring manual data entry or pre-formatting. After extraction, each line item is presented for review alongside Porter’s suggested classification, so junior staff and licensed brokers can see exactly what Porter read from the document and what it suggested for each line.
Porter’s confidence rating indicates how certain the AI is in its suggested 10-digit tariff item for each line. A high confidence rating means the commodity description clearly maps to a specific tariff item with minimal ambiguity. A lower confidence rating means the commodity could plausibly classify to more than one tariff item and warrants additional scrutiny from the junior reviewer and the licensed broker. The confidence rating is a workflow tool: it helps your team allocate attention appropriately, moving quickly on high-confidence classifications and spending more time on the ones that genuinely need it.
For each classified line item, Porter returns the MFN (Most Favoured Nation) duty rate and all applicable preferential duty rates under Canadian trade agreements, including CUSMA (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement), CETA (Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement), CCFTA (Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement), and other applicable agreements based on the country of origin of the goods. Porter also returns applicable treatment codes for each tariff item. The applicable preferential rate depends on the country of origin declared for the shipment.
Porter calculates the duty amount owed in Canadian dollars by applying the applicable duty rate to the declared value of each line item. The calculation uses the duty rate appropriate for the origin of the goods (MFN or applicable preferential rate under a trade agreement) and returns a CAD duty amount for each line and a total for the entry. This gives the licensed broker and the importer a clear, accurate picture of the duty liability before CBSA submission.
Once the licensed broker reviews and approves the complete classification for an entry — including all line items, duty rates, and CAD amounts — Porter submits directly to CBSA. There is no manual re-entry into a separate system and no copying between platforms. The approved classification flows directly from Porter to CBSA. A complete audit trail is maintained at every step: what was uploaded, what Porter extracted, what was suggested, what was reviewed, what was adjusted, what was approved, and when submission occurred.
Every classification Porter returns includes a rationale — a clear explanation of why that specific 10-digit tariff item applies to that commodity description. Junior entry writers reviewing Porter’s output are not just approving or adjusting a code; they are reading an explanation of the classification logic for that commodity. This builds classification knowledge on live files in real time, which is significantly more effective than classroom training or manual tariff schedule study. New entry writers develop commodity expertise faster and require less supervision from senior brokers.
Porter is available in two configurations. As an add-on for existing EntryPoint AI clients, Porter is $1,997 CAD per month per location added to your existing all-inclusive EntryPoint AI engagement. As a standalone product for customs brokerages that want AI-powered classification and direct CBSA submission without the full EntryPoint AI communications and operations system, Porter is $2,997 CAD per month per location. Both configurations include full Porter access, CBSA submission integration, ongoing maintenance, and updates as the Canadian Customs Tariff schedule changes. A discovery meeting is required before access is provisioned.
Porter is available to qualified Canadian customs brokerages. The first step is a 15-minute discovery meeting with EntryPoint AI to discuss your current classification volume, team structure, document types, and whether Porter is the right fit for your specific operation. Schedule your discovery meeting at entrypointai.ca/schedule-discovery-meeting or call (888) 408-8704.
Schedule your free 15-minute discovery meeting. We’ll discuss your current classification volume, your team structure, and whether Porter is the right fit for your customs brokerage operation.
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Last Updated 07/28/2026