WORLD SHIPPING COUNCIL CALLS FOR CHANGES TO 24-HOUR RULE APPLICATION

WORLD SHIPPING COUNCIL CALLS FOR CHANGES TO 24-HOUR RULE APPLICATION    The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection should consider ways to ease the operational difficulties of complying with the 24-hour rule on the prior transmission of data for U.S.-bound cargoes, including a lesser reliance on the Automated Manifest System, according to the World Shipping Council.
   Christopher Koch, president and chief executive officer of the Washington-based carrier group, told the Containerization International conference in London that implementation of the Customs rule “has been expensive and difficult.”
   While its early implementation generally has been handled “with care and consideration” by Customs, certain issues must be addressed, he said.
   “One current issue under review is how to address the operational difficulties that some automated non-vessel-operating common carriers have experienced in moving their cargo efficiently through U.S. ports of discharge,” Koch said. He added his organization’s members are working with NVOCC representatives and Customs on these issues, and they are “optimistic that progress can be made soon.”
   Another issue will be who should be listed as the shipper of a container of consolidated cargo, Koch said. “(This) is likely to raise complicated commercial and legal issues that must be carefully considered and understood.”
   The World Shipping Council believes the information used under the 24-hour rule — the carrier’s cargo manifest — has limitations because it contains transportation contract information.
   “Obviously, some cargo shipment information of security interest is beyond the scope of knowledge of the carrier,” Koch said.
   Koch noted U.S. Customs’ work on the future import cargo processing system.
   Instead of using the Automated Manifest System as the tool to comply with the 24-hour rule, the World Shipping Council said a future import system should allow shippers and consignees to provide some of the information required — not carriers. The future system advocated by the carrier group is one “that puts the obligation for providing transportation information on the carrier and the obligation for providing cargo information on the shipper and consignee.”
   Commenting on U.S. Customs’ proposed “strawman” requiring advance cargo information on outbound ocean freight, Koch said the proposed requirement that carriers file a manifest 24 hours before departure is unnecessary.
   “The U.S. government already has a functioning Automated Export System that permits both shippers and carriers to file advance shipment information,' unlike Automated Manifest System which is solely carrier filing, he said.