Wild Horse Port to resume winter hours

Press release

WILD HORSE — U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations would like to remind travelers the Port of Wild Horse will resume winter hours Oct. 1. The port will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Wild Horse is a permit port, which means a permit is required to import commercial merchandise. The Area Port of Great Falls is ready to review applications and issue permits for commercial merchandise to be imported into the United States. Permits require advance approval; contact the Supervisory Entry Officer at 406-453-7631 for more information.

“The Area Port of Great Falls continues to expediently review and approve permit applications for commercial merchandise to be imported into the U.S. through permit ports,” Assistant Area Port Director-Trade James Rector said.

An international committee comprising members from Montana and Alberta, The Wild Horse Border Committee, with support from members of Montana’s congressional delegation, has been working for more than a decade to get the port upgraded to commercial status and to have extended, if not 24-hour, hours of operation.

While the winter hours were extended for more months in some years, the group and the members of Congress have had no success. 

The closest commercial ports are Sweetgrass, Montana, and Raymond, Montana. They are open 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. Permits are not required to import commercial merchandise into the U.S. through Raymond or Sweetgrass. The Port of Raymond, located north of Plentywood on Highway 16, is approximately 300 miles east of Wild Horse. The Port of Sweetgrass, located on Interstate 15 north of Shelby, is about 100 miles west of Wild Horse.

Importing/exporting commercial merchandise information and port information are found on the Trade tab of http://www.cbp.gov.

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Havre Daily News staff contributed to this report.