Shippers face onerous EU manifest requirements?
A U.K.-based shippers' advocate group is voicing its concern over what it calls onerous expectations from some carriers in response to the European Union's new advanced manifest rules, which went into effect Jan. 1.
Some carriers are asking for the freight data five days in advance of loading (when the EU requires it only 24 hours in advance for sea freight), wrote Shippers' Voice Managing Partner Andrew Traill. One North American shipper of temperature-controlled cargo said it has faced a carrier demanding the information (including the container number and seal details) before that carrier has even delivered the container to the shipper for loading.
 |
| Traill |
'I guess we're supposed to make up the container numbers,' Traill wrote this week. 'Also, one of these carriers has gone so far as to require government health certificate numbers by the same cutoff date, despite the reality that empty containers may not even be released for loading by their documentation cutoff date.'
The EU's advanced trade data rules requires an entry summary declaration (ENS) be submitted to EU authorities 24 hours before cargo loading.
Traill said the ENS requirements vary from carrier to carrier, with the unnamed shipper adding this probably 'says more about how different carriers cope with tackling the same problems.' He said the Shippers' Voice is looking for more feedback on the new advanced manifest rules and how carriers are treating their customers to see if these problems are unique to a few shippers or more endemic.
'Given that the data and regulations are similar to the requirements for cargo entering the U.S., it is surprising to see these problems,' he said.
