Customs and Border Protection highlighted the historic event with the arrival on August 5 of the U.S.-flag containership Maersk Kinloss at APM Terminals in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey
Two hundred and thirty years ago on August 5, 1789, the newly formed U.S. Customs Service processed the first inbound vessel from overseas in the Port of New York.
Photo credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Only five days earlier, on July 31, 1789, the Fifth Act of Congress established customs collection districts and regulated the collection of duties on ships’ tonnage and merchandise entering U.S. seaports.
Import duty was obtained from New York importer and Bank of New York cashier William Seton, who paid $774.41 to the U.S. government for goods that were transported on board the two-masted sailing ship Persis. The ship crossed the Atlantic from Italy.
Customs and Border Protection celebrated the event with the arrival of U.S.-flag containership Maersk Kinloss arriving at APM Terminals in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, which is part of today’s expansive Port of New York and New Jersey complex. The Kinloss is operated by Maersk Line, Limited, and was onroute to the port after transiting the Mediterranean.
“The Kinloss carries thousands of cargo containers. Each container can hold more cargo than the entire Persis, and a handful would weigh more than the entire ship. Just one shipment is valued at over $5.6 million with an approximate duty of $565,000,” said Troy Miller, CBP’s director of the New York Field Office, in a statement.
During the ceremony, Capt. Christopher Murray of the Maersk Kinloss presented the application for unlading (CBP Form 3171) for the vessel to Miller and acting CBP Port Director Dylan DeFrancisci.
Today CBP in the Port of New York and New Jersey receives and processes about 17,000 commercial vessel calls a year. Nationwide in 2018, the agency collected $52 billion in duties on $2.6 trillion of imports and processed 28 million imported containers.
“CBP is doing an outstanding job in meeting the challenges of expanding global trade volumes and increasing vessel size and cargo capacities,” said Mark Tierney, Maersk Americas’ head of corporate security and regulatory, during the ceremony.Maersk Inc. recently celebrated its 100-year history in the U.S. The A.P. Moller-Maersk company opened its first office in the country on July 7, 1919. Similarly, the U.S. Coast Guard celebrated its 229th anniversary on August 4.
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