U.S. CUSTOMS AES TEST WITH OCEAN CARRIERS SUCCESSFUL

U.S. CUSTOMS AES TEST WITH OCEAN CARRIERS SUCCESSFUL    U.S. Customs says that a recent test of its Automated Export System in the ocean carrier environment was successful.
   The Vessel Transportation Certification Test, which took place in Charleston, S.C., gave the agency a better idea of how AES could be used by carriers to electronically transmit their export-related transportation data.
   AES was developed several years ago to collect export commodity and transport data. Customs uses the data for targeting illegal shipments, while Census compiles it for the country’s trade statistics.
   Commodity data is provided by exporters or forwarders, while the transportation data is provided by the carriers. Transportation data is especially important to Customs, because it lets the agency know when the freight is about to leave the country.
   The two test carriers, P&O Nedlloyd and Lykes Lines, transmitted their outbound manifests electronically in AES, but they still have to file paper manifests to Customs the interim.
   Customs plans to use the rest of July and August to analyze the results of the test. “There may be some minor changes made to the program,” said Adam J. Wysocki, program officer for the outbound process at Customs’ Office of Field Operations in Washington.
   Customs plans to develop similar AES capabilities for other transportation providers, such as the non-vessel-operating common carriers and air carriers.