Shipper claims “Silliness” over carrier compliance requirements for EU advanced data rules
News Release
The Shippers Voice
January 24, 2011
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<DIV>How smoothly is the introduction going of the European Union’s requirement
for an Entry Summary Declaration? It’s early days yet in the operation of
the EU’s new requirement for submitting data about the freight being
imported into the EU (or moving via the EU) prior to loading for export.
The Shipper’s Voice has heard little by way of shippers’ reactions to this new
obligation placed upon them, or indeed on their thoughts about the surcharges
which many carriers (air and sea) are introducing. Arising from the Shippers’
Voice Linked In group (a closed shippers’ only group), however, comes one of the
first signs of frustration from a couple of shippers.
<P>A shipper in North America is concerned that one or two carriers are
requiring the shipper to provide certain information as much as five days before
loading. A European based shipper from the retail sector has also indicated a
similar situation arising. Both shippers’ identities will remain confidential
here.</P>
<P>Thus far the shipper from North America has only experienced this from a
couple of the lines he deals with. He comments that this probably “says more
about how different carriers cope with tackling the same problems”.</P>
<P>The EU’s advanced trade data rules requires that an Entry Summary
Declaration (ENS) be submitted to EU authorities 24hrs before cargo loading. It
is apparent that some carriers (and it is suggested to be European carriers) are
threatening the imposition of charges (or “fines” as the shipper in question
termed it) levied by the carrier, if the shippers exporting to the EU do not
supply them with a complete ocean bill of lading (OBL) including the container
number and seal by a deadline set by the carriers. In order to comply with this
requirement, in practical terms translates to providing the carrier with an OBL
roughly 120 hours before sailing, “Which, in reality, will often mean that
meeting the carrier’s EU 24 rule deadline…complete OBL details including
container and seal details would need to be provided to the carrier before cargo
is even containerized”, says the North American shipper.</P>
<P>He goes on to explain that in order to comply, because of the nature and
characteristics of his business and freight, this would “actually lead to our
having to supply them [the carriers] with container numbers before the carrier
even releases empty containers for loading by the shipper….and as the line has
no plans to release empty reefer containers any earlier than they have in the
past, I guess we’re supposed to make up the container numbers. Today one of
these carriers has gone so far as to require government health certificate
numbers by the same cut off date despite the reality that empty containers may
not even be released for loading by their documentation cut off date and
government regulators certainly aren’t going to issue OMIC certs [certificates]
before cargo is containerized.”</P>
<P>He suggests that shippers will be forced to look for carriers with less
‘silly’ demands.</P>
<P>The European shipper, points to the requirement imposed on him by his
forwarders for an extension to the “CFS cut off by up to 4 days (because of the
weekend) which has been much longer than originally anticipated. This has also
been more than the factories can absorb, and so has affected our lead time by up
to a week”.</P>
<P>The Shippers’ Voice is curious to know if other shippers were experiencing
similar impractical demands from carriers (air or sea), or whether this is
merely a situation unique to just a few shippers and one or two carriers.</P>
<P>The American shipper expresses surprise that the EU rules should cause any
major shipper or their carriers a problem: he cites that they all work within
the similar requirements for the US, for example without any difficulties; the
only major difference with the EU rules is in the requirement to supply
the container number and seal details with the OBL number prior to loading, but
as the North American shipper states “ frankly as an importer that manages to
supply the US government with ISF advanced trade data 24 hours before our
containers sail from China, Europe or elsewhere….and given that this EU advanced
trade date [rule] didn’t just pop up out of thin air…I’m surprised to see that
it appears to be such a huge administrative issue for some carriers and a breeze
for others”.</P>
<P>If you wish to shed some light on your experiences, but anonymously, please
email <A href="mailto://Andrew.traill@shippersvoice.com" target=_blank><FONT
color=#3a6999>Andrew.traill@shippersvoice.com</FONT></A>, who will be happy to
take your comments in confidence. Otherwise you may seek an invitation to join
the<A
href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homeNewMember=&gid=2075298&trk="
target=_blank><FONT color=#3a6999> Shippers’ Voice Group on the Linked
In</FONT></A> networking tool, to share your thoughts with shippers and
shippers’ representatives; or else submit a comment below this
article.</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE>
<META content="text/html; charset=unicode" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18904"></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV>How smoothly is the introduction going of the European Union’s requirement
for an Entry Summary Declaration? It’s early days yet in the operation of
the EU’s new requirement for submitting data about the freight being
imported into the EU (or moving via the EU) prior to loading for export.
The Shipper’s Voice has heard little by way of shippers’ reactions to this new
obligation placed upon them, or indeed on their thoughts about the surcharges
which many carriers (air and sea) are introducing. Arising from the Shippers’
Voice Linked In group (a closed shippers’ only group), however, comes one of the
first signs of frustration from a couple of shippers.
<P>A shipper in North America is concerned that one or two carriers are
requiring the shipper to provide certain information as much as five days before
loading. A European based shipper from the retail sector has also indicated a
similar situation arising. Both shippers’ identities will remain confidential
here.</P>
<P>Thus far the shipper from North America has only experienced this from a
couple of the lines he deals with. He comments that this probably “says more
about how different carriers cope with tackling the same problems”.</P>
<P>The EU’s advanced trade data rules requires that an Entry Summary
Declaration (ENS) be submitted to EU authorities 24hrs before cargo loading. It
is apparent that some carriers (and it is suggested to be European carriers) are
threatening the imposition of charges (or “fines” as the shipper in question
termed it) levied by the carrier, if the shippers exporting to the EU do not
supply them with a complete ocean bill of lading (OBL) including the container
number and seal by a deadline set by the carriers. In order to comply with this
requirement, in practical terms translates to providing the carrier with an OBL
roughly 120 hours before sailing, “Which, in reality, will often mean that
meeting the carrier’s EU 24 rule deadline…complete OBL details including
container and seal details would need to be provided to the carrier before cargo
is even containerized”, says the North American shipper.</P>
<P>He goes on to explain that in order to comply, because of the nature and
characteristics of his business and freight, this would “actually lead to our
having to supply them [the carriers] with container numbers before the carrier
even releases empty containers for loading by the shipper….and as the line has
no plans to release empty reefer containers any earlier than they have in the
past, I guess we’re supposed to make up the container numbers. Today one of
these carriers has gone so far as to require government health certificate
numbers by the same cut off date despite the reality that empty containers may
not even be released for loading by their documentation cut off date and
government regulators certainly aren’t going to issue OMIC certs [certificates]
before cargo is containerized.”</P>
<P>He suggests that shippers will be forced to look for carriers with less
‘silly’ demands.</P>
<P>The European shipper, points to the requirement imposed on him by his
forwarders for an extension to the “CFS cut off by up to 4 days (because of the
weekend) which has been much longer than originally anticipated. This has also
been more than the factories can absorb, and so has affected our lead time by up
to a week”.</P>
<P>The Shippers’ Voice is curious to know if other shippers were experiencing
similar impractical demands from carriers (air or sea), or whether this is
merely a situation unique to just a few shippers and one or two carriers.</P>
<P>The American shipper expresses surprise that the EU rules should cause any
major shipper or their carriers a problem: he cites that they all work within
the similar requirements for the US, for example without any difficulties; the
only major difference with the EU rules is in the requirement to supply
the container number and seal details with the OBL number prior to loading, but
as the North American shipper states “ frankly as an importer that manages to
supply the US government with ISF advanced trade data 24 hours before our
containers sail from China, Europe or elsewhere….and given that this EU advanced
trade date [rule] didn’t just pop up out of thin air…I’m surprised to see that
it appears to be such a huge administrative issue for some carriers and a breeze
for others”.</P>
<P>If you wish to shed some light on your experiences, but anonymously, please
email <A href="mailto://Andrew.traill@shippersvoice.com" target=_blank><FONT
color=#3a6999>Andrew.traill@shippersvoice.com</FONT></A>, who will be happy to
take your comments in confidence. Otherwise you may seek an invitation to join
the<A
href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homeNewMember=&gid=2075298&trk="
target=_blank><FONT color=#3a6999> Shippers’ Voice Group on the Linked
In</FONT></A> networking tool, to share your thoughts with shippers and
shippers’ representatives; or else submit a comment below this
article.</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>