Truckers must file e-summaries of cargo at borders
The Customs and Border Protection agency has moved forward with a plan to require all truckers entering the United States to file electronic summaries of cargo.
As of Jan. 25, all truck carriers entering through Arizona, Washington and seven ports in North Dakota must file electronic manifests through the Automated Commercial Environment, a processing system being developed to enhance national security and facilitate legitimate trade.
An e-manifest requires the trucker to provide details of the trip, vehicle, shipment, passengers and driver. All of the data goes into the ACE databank or a national CBP database, CBP spokesman Eric Blum said.
Legislation from 2002 gave CBP the authority to require the electronic transmission of advance cargo information. Blum said the goal is to deploy the program into all states within the next year.
Once states are designated for compliance, truckers will be given notices if they fail to meet the requirement. After 60 days, carriers arriving at designated ports must demonstrate that attempts were made to submit e-manifests. During a third stage, carriers that fail to comply will be denied entry to the United States or could be fined.
In the past, all commercial trucks arriving at the borders have had to apply for entrance using paper manifests. That process resulted in problems such as incomplete information, Blum said.
CBP now has the capacity to accept e-manifests at every port on the southern border. Blum said, however, that northern-border states such as Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and parts of Minnesota and North Dakota have work to do.
The electronic program saves shippers time, makes the documents more accessible and legible, and enables determinations on the frequency and normalcy of certain shipments. CBP's spokesman said the program has been more difficult for smaller companies or trucker groups satisfy, although third parties can assist such companies.
As of April 19, three new states -- California, New Mexico and Texas -- will have to adhere to the e-manifest initiative. Other states will be put into the mandatory category following a 90-day notice, Blum said. The agency has been moving toward mandatory, nationwide participation for a long time, he noted.
"E-manifests are a good thing but making them mandatory in certain states before it is rolled out to all ports may have been pre-mature," said Margaret Irwin, director of customs, immigration and cross-border operations at the American Trucking Association. "We still do not have all of the kinks worked out of the system."
COMMENTS
- Why pay off an inspector (or CBP officer, as they are now called) at all? The odds are that most of these containers will just be passed through anyway, without inspection, because the interests of business, commerce and profits trump national security every time! GovExec.com reader Posted March 11, 2007 12:24 AM
- What a joke. We have millions of shipping containers arriving from overseas that never get checked, but we want to ensure that some poor truck driver gets all his paperwork in order. All they will have to do is find the right inspector, pay him a few bucks and across the border they will go. Charlie Posted March 8, 2007 10:20 PM
- I'm in total agreement with the 'Former Customs Inspector', but he's preaching to the choir (me). Your comments are a welcome professional blog in an area that most people don't understand. Wave the magic wand, disband DHS, as many posters have suggested, and perhaps this travesty will end. Not likely, but possible. My point was simply that as an (ex-) examining officer, I always wanted to have as much documentation before conducting an air cargo exam. Of course, it's different at a land border port. Time will tell. GovExec.com reader Posted February 22, 2007 2:19 PM
