Open Harbor to help Renault manage customs clearance for new vehicle

Open Harbor to help Renault manage customs clearance for new vehicle    French automaker Renault has contracted with Open Harbor, a provider of trade compliance software, to help support the car maker’s production and distribution strategy for a new low-budget car in Central and Eastern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, South America and other emerging middle-class markets.
   In early June, Renault unveiled the Logan, a $6,000 car produced by Romanian subsidiary Dacia. The Logan is the first car designed by Renault for sale entirely outside Western Europe. To reduce distribution costs, Renault is also building plants in Russia, Colombia, Iran and Morocco to produce the car close to its target markets. Parts will be made locally and imported from Renault as well for final assembly.
   In addition to simplifying the design and moving production to areas with low labor rates, Renault, like many other multinational corporations, is also keeping costs down by “surfing” free trade agreements — in this case between the European Union and other nations — in order to keep import and export costs to a minimum.
   “Renault essentially is designing their whole supply chain for this car on taking advantage of duty reductions,” said Beth Peterson, Open Harbor’s vice president of product solutions, during an interview at last week’s American Association of Exporters and Importers conference in New York.
   Open Harbor’s database will serve as a repository for information about each component and the Global Security and Compliance software will determine whether it qualifies for duty-free status in a particular country after classifying every part in the Logan catalog according to the global harmonized tariff system code. The system will automatically create the documents Renault needs to do its own entries and prove to local customs authorities that they qualify for duty-free status.