What records do cannabis shipments require?

Ask who keeps the records on a cannabis shipment and the honest answer is: two parties, keeping two different kinds. The regulatory obligations — accounting for product from production through sale under the federal tracking framework — sit with the licence holders on either end of the move. The carrier in the middle keeps transport records: the shipping document, the seal numbers, the custody signatures and the proof of delivery. The licence holders’ compliance records are only as good as the transport evidence underneath them, which is why documentation discipline is one of the first things regulated shippers vet in a carrier.

The obligations belong to the licence holders

Under the federal framework, licence holders must be able to account for cannabis in their custody — what came in, what went out, to whom, and when. Health Canada operates a national tracking system into which federal licence holders and provincial distributors report, built to follow product through the supply chain and guard against diversion. The details of what must be reported and how often are set in federal regulation, and they are the licence holder’s responsibility, not the carrier’s — verify the current requirements with Health Canada directly.

The practical consequence for freight: when a producer ships to the OCS, or product moves onward to an authorized store, the businesses at both ends need reliable records of that movement to satisfy their own obligations. The carrier doesn’t file anything with a regulator. The carrier produces the evidence the filers depend on.

The transport paper trail, document by document

A well-run regulated shipment generates a small, predictable set of records on the transport leg:

Record	Created by	What it establishes
Shipping document / manifest	Shipper	What was tendered — piece count, references, origin and destination
Seal record	Shipper, verified by driver	Seal numbers applied at origin, confirming the load left closed
Pickup signature	Driver	The moment custody passed from shipper to carrier
Delivery verification	Receiver	Seal intact, piece count checked against the document
Proof of delivery (POD)	Receiver, held by carrier	Who accepted the freight, when, and in what condition

Each row answers a question someone may later ask. If a count is ever disputed, the shipping document and POD settle it. If interference is ever suspected, the seal record settles it. If timing matters, the pickup and delivery signatures settle it. The security practices these records support — sealed loads, direct routing, controlled handoffs — are covered in what security cannabis transport requires, and the two topics together form the backbone of our deeper guide to cannabis transport security and documentation.

Chain of custody is the thread through all of it

Chain of custody simply means that at every moment between the shipper’s dock and the receiver’s, a specific, identifiable party is responsible for the freight — and the records prove it without gaps. The driver signs at pickup; the freight stays with that driver and vehicle; the authorized receiver signs at delivery. No informal transfers, no unrecorded stops, no “it was in the yard for a while.”

For carriers, the operational habit that makes this easy is assigning the run to one vehicle and one known driver, start to finish — the model behind dedicated service. One custodian per leg means one signature per handoff and a trail that reads cleanly months later.

What the POD needs to capture for regulated freight

For general freight, a proof of delivery records who signed and when — the fundamentals are covered in what a proof of delivery is. For regulated freight, the POD works harder. A clean regulated POD reflects that the receiver verified the seal before breaking it, checked the piece count against the shipping document, and noted any discrepancy at the time of delivery rather than after the truck left. A discrepancy noted on the spot is a documented event the licence holder can act on; one raised the next day is an argument.

Shippers can help their own compliance posture here: brief receiving staff that regulated deliveries are verified before they’re signed for, every time, even when the driver is a familiar face. Turnaround matters too — a POD that comes back to the shipper the same day, not at month end, is one the compliance file can actually use while the delivery is still fresh enough to question.

What shippers should ask a carrier about records

Before tendering regulated freight, ask the carrier four things: what document travels with the load, how seal numbers are recorded and verified, how custody transfers are captured, and how quickly a signed POD comes back after delivery. A carrier with crisp answers has done this work before; a carrier that improvises paperwork is a risk to your compliance file. Producers building out their shipping programme will find the fuller picture in our licensed producer shipping guide.

One caution to close on: this page describes documentation practice, not regulation. Record-keeping and tracking obligations are set federally and can change — confirm current requirements with Health Canada, and with the AGCO and OCS where provincial rules apply.

Sonic Transport closes out every run with a POD and shipment updates, and regulated B2B freight gets the documentation discipline described here — recorded handoffs, consistent drivers, paperwork that holds up. If your shipments need a records trail you can rely on, tell us about your freight and we’ll set it up properly.