Study: Scant benefit from C-TPAT

By Eric Johnson

   More than a decade since U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched its Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program, a preponderance of shippers surveyed earlier this year by American Shipper say they are not receiving some or all of the benefits promised by the program.
   As part of American Shipper’s 2012 Import Operations and Compliance Benchmark Study released in May, shippers were asked about the effectiveness of C-TPAT, as well as the Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) program. ISA members must first be C-TPAT members.
   The results were not encouraging.
   Only 11 percent of 141 shippers polled said they were receiving all the benefits promised to them by the trade facilitation program. Another 29 percent said they were seeing benefits, but not as significant as planned. Meanwhile, 20 percent said they have seen no benefit from the program. That’s nearly twice the number of shippers who said they were completely satisfied with their involvement.
   What’s more, grouping together those who say they receive no benefit, those who say they receive less benefit than anticipated, and those that are uncertain of their benefits, three of every five C-TPAT members appear dissatisfied with the benefits of the program.
   Winners — shippers designated by American Shipper as best in class according to metrics within the survey — have marginally better satisfaction, but not significantly better.
   And the picture is worse with ISA. A full third of shippers reported seeing no benefits from their involvement, compared to only 12 percent who said they were receiving all the benefits they expected. Most tellingly, 44 percent of shippers (and even 46 percent of winners) said they were uncertain that the program was effective.