AAEI project to document effect of customs exams on shippers

AAEI project to document effect of customs exams on shippers    American importers have complained about increasing delays and costs getting cargo cleared through U.S. Customs as the frequency of cargo examinations more than doubled post Sept. 11, 2001.
   Despite efforts by Customs and Border Protection officials to clear up bottlenecks at specific ports, there is no nationwide approach to deal with the worsening problem, importers and their customs agents say.
   Now the American Association of Exporters and Importers said it plans to gather data on how customs exams are impacting businesses. The trade association, whose members include some of the nation’s largest manufacturers and retailers, will run a 30-day, trial data collection effort beginning Nov. 1 to gather online feedback from companies engaged in international trade about their experiences with cargo security and trade compliance examinations.
   AAEI officials said the goal is to provide CBP officials with evidence of systematic problems because ad hoc complaints about individual company experiences make it difficult for the agency to take corrective action on a national level. The effort can also help importers, carriers and logistics firms identify whether any of their own practices are contributing to the delays.
   The snapshot of the customs exam arena can serve policymakers and others “as a vital barometer” of the “consequences of the new regime of compliance and security,” AAEI President Hall Northcott said in an interview.
   “If a CSI port doesn’t see a more rapid exam process, that will be noteworthy,” he said, referring to the overseas inspection program known as the Container Security Initiative.
   The project is open to all trade groups and their members. A short survey is available on the AAEI Web site: https://www.aaei.org/.
   AAEI officials said they hoped to attract enough participation by importers, carriers and brokers to make the project permanent.
   “If there were a recurrent series of specific problems in a specific port, that would be indicative of something,” said Dena Michaelson, AAEI’s public affairs manager.
   Before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, about 1 to 2 percent of cargo containers were randomly inspected for narcotics and other contraband. Since then, CBP has deployed more than 120 container and truck x-ray machines to the nation’s borders. About 6 percent of inbound ocean containers are now targeted using intelligence analysis for non-intrusive and physical examinations. The exam rate doubles to nearly 12 percent for all modes of transportation.
   It can take days for terminal operators to line up containers for x-ray examinations or weeks for some cargo to be physically checked at a cargo examination station, according to industry officials. Meanwhile, other shipments are often inadvertently caught up in the security dragnet because they cannot be released if they are listed on the same bill of lading as the suspect container until it checks out.
   CBP created a counter-balance to higher exam rates by giving companies the option to join the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. Under the voluntary program, certified companies that adopt tighter security controls for their international supply networks are considered low-risk shippers eligible for faster clearance. But many importers are questioning whether they are receiving any benefits from C-TPAT, saying they have not noticed any reduction in the amount of cargo that gets held up for inspection.
   CBP officials, under pressure from the industry-led Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations, have promised to provide hard measurements showing C-TPAT is demonstrably improving security and providing benefits to participants. COAC members said anecdotal success stories about C-TPAT were not sufficient to show tangible benefits were widespread.
   Northcott said AAEI’s data collection effort would complement any studies conducted by CBP itself. The International Chamber of Commerce and the World Customs Organization also have projects underway internationally to assess the economic impact of the heightened border security environment.
   AAEI officials stressed that participants are “guaranteed confidentiality.” AAEI staff will cleanse the data of company names and identifiers before it is compiled and analyzed. The organization said it is only interested in aggregate data. The information will be complied in reports and made available to participating associations, companies, public policy groups, Congress, CBP and other government agencies, AAEI said.
   Companies are being encouraged to fill out a survey form for any shipment, delayed or not, imported from January through November. Importers or brokers with hundreds of shipments may choose to document their November activities or submit a representative sample.
   The survey covers areas such as the import port, type of commodity, the exam type and date, the number of days to complete the exam, the outcome, number of days lost getting goods to their final destination, and costs associated with the delay.
   AAEI is cooperating with many trade organizations, including the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, the National Industrial Transportation League, the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the American Chemistry Council.
   If the project takes off, AAEI will probably hire an outside firm to manage the data collection and analysis, Northcott said.
   “AAEI is taking the right steps to analyze the problem and get some information,” Mary Jo Muoio, senior vice president of customs brokerage and logistics provider Barthco International, told American Shipper. “Customs tends to be very responsive” to empirical data, especially if it finds that certain Customs practices at the port level don’t meet accepted standards, she said.
   Muoio said the New York/New Jersey Freight Forwarders Association held a series of meetings with terminal operators, steamship lines and Customs Examination Stations during the past year to chart how exams were handled in each particular location of the New York/New Jersey port complex and understand why procedures varied.
   “We did find some ways to improve the process and Customs was able to influence the process too,” she said.