CUSTOMS LAUNCHES CAFES IN LAREDO

CUSTOMS LAUNCHES CAFES IN LAREDO    The U.S. Customs Service has successfully implemented a new in-bond management system in Laredo, Texas, this week that reduces the amount of time needed to clear trucks into the United States.
   The system, Customs Automated Forms Entry System or CAFES, uses a redesigned in-bond form with a two-dimensional barcode (PDF-417). This type of barcode, which resembles a checkerboard, is able to contain larger amounts of data than traditional vertical-lined barcodes used for land-border clearance.
   The 2-D barcode format is available through free Customs software. Customs brokers can transmit the 2-D barcode information via e-mail to Mexican or Canadian commercial parties to produce the in-bond documents.
   Truckers carry these forms with them as they transport their shipments to the border. Customs inspectors then scan these barcoded documents to verify the shipments with information in the agency’s system, and to determine whether to move it along. This scanning process should only take three to eight seconds, the agency said.
   M.J. Carrillo Co., based in Laredo, became the first broker to test CAFES on Wednesday. “The process was extremely smooth,” Alma R. Carrillo-Garza, a licensed broker with the company. “Under the regular in-bond system, the driver would have to stop (at the border) to have the information manually entered. This eliminates that altogether.”
   For the first CAFES shipment, M.J. Carrillo transmitted its 2-D barcode in-bond information over the Internet to broker Grupo Vazeli in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, which produced the barcoded documents. The documents were given to trucking company M.S. Carriers, which transported a shipment of auto parts from Mexico to Nissan North America’s plant in Smyrna, Tenn. M.J. Carrillo expects to process Nissan auto parts shipments daily through CAFES.
   On May 16, Customs will begin implementation of CAFES on the northern border at Port Huron, Mich. The trial period for the system will last 60 days. Customs will expand it to other ports along the land borders, and later to any area with high levels of in-bond traffic.