U.S. unveils security requirements for pre-filing shipping data
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Thursday previewed a new set of cargo security rules that requires freight carriers to provide shipping data prior to the arrival of a vessel, rail car, airplane or truck at the U.S. border.
Information from the manifest must be electronically transmitted to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, which developed the rule to gather data that can be matched against commercial and law enforcement databases to classify shipments by risk and determine whether they need to receive closer attention or be denied entry before reaching a U.S. port.
The final advance manifest rule will be issued in 15 days after Congress has had a chance to review it. But Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge and Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner used a Customs-sponsored trade symposium attended by an announced crowd of about 550 as an opportunity to release a summary of the rules. Congress mandated advanced, electronic reporting of manifests as part of last year’s Trade Act.
Transmittal times for each mode remained the same from the proposal Customs issued last summer, with one noticeable change. Outbound trains now must submit the shipping data through the automated rail manifest system two hours prior to arrival at the border, a departure from the previous proposal to transmit four hours prior to engine-to-car hookup for departure but parallel to the inbound requirement. Timeframes for trucks (30 minutes to one hour prior to arrival depending on security status), and air cargo (four hours prior to arrival, or at take off for flights under two hours in duration) and ocean vessel exports (24 hours prior to departure) were not altered.
“The days of a shipment just showing up at our border unannounced are over,” Bonner said during a press conference.
In a document outlining the new rules, the department indicated it will issue a separate rule exempting air carriers from the reporting requirements for letters and packages weighing less than one pound. The change was primarily sought by air express carriers who process thousands of small items each day and felt the advance reporting requirements could slow down their operations.
A DHS official, speaking on background, said Customs would very shortly issue an interim final rule addressing letters and flat documents that fall below the weight threshold. Under the new rule, batch manifests for these types of individual shipments would be reported in advance on a bag or satchel basis, as is the existing procedure, the official told American Shipper.
In a speech at the Customs Trade Symposium, Ridge emphasized that the new cargo rules are consistent with the government’s risk management philosophy of preventing terrorism without slowing down the movement of imports and exports vital to the U.S. economy. The rules provide security without taking the draconian measure of opening every container for inspection, he said.
“To cripple our economy without firing a shot is not only
counterproductive, that’s a terrorist’s dream. We can’t allow terrorists to blockade America,” he said.
Ridge said industry costs to implement the rules would not be excessive, and would be offset by gains in efficiency and customer service in some cases. He said truckers would save fuel by idling less at border checkpoints and that airlines would gain business if the traveling public is more confident in the security program in place.
“I disagree with the notion that you’ve subtracted from the bottom line” by hiring, training and purchasing computer systems that make businesses safer, Ridge said. Shippers demand reliability from transportation providers “and what better advertisement than a strong and secure supply chain” to prove that shipments won’t be delayed by intensive Customs searches, he said.
Ridge and Bonner praised the cooperation of the trade community in helping to formulate the new rules.
Enforcement of the manifest rules can begin as early as 90 days after their publication, but Bonner said the agency will work with industry to phase in the requirements as quickly as possible depending on the electronic connectivity of different industry sectors to the Customs system. The trucking industry is the farthest away from full compliance because there is yet to be developed an electronic interface that captures truck manifest data. The rail and air sectors are expected to be in compliance the fastest because they have voluntary manifest reporting systems already in use, although some industry officials said the air manifest system may need some tweaking to handle the new security data properly.
“You have to take into consideration that there is a broad range of capability and you have to work with (companies) and bring up that capability until you finally say you can no longer bring it in without” electronic reporting, DHS spokesman Dennis Murphy said. “You can’t do it cold turkey,” he said.