According to press reports, U.S.-Canada border crossings near Champlain, New York were closed for several hours last week due to a bomb threat and a suspicious van involving A.N. Derringer, a major freight forwarder in the area.  This is the border crossing where most U.S. comics printed at Quebecor and Transcom in Quebec cross into the U.S., and A.N. Derringer has handled shipments for comic distributors in the past. 

 

We contacted Diamond VP Roger Fletcher to find out more, and here's what he told us:

'We have been continually monitoring the border situation closely and as yet have had no serious delays or disruptions.  While we're not using Derringer's currently, the 'incident' there did slow border crossings when it occurred, but fortunately we had already finished shipping for the week, so it didn't affect us.'

 

As various members of Congress push for tighter controls on the U.S.-Canada border (we saw one Representative from a border state holding up an orange cone on TV recently, stressing that it was the only border barrier at some crossings into his state for many hours per day), cross-border movement of freight may come under increasing scrutiny, making the free flow of goods between the neighboring countries more difficult.