January 30, 2007 - Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits, Version 600

The revision, which will come into effect on July 1, 2007, incorporates a number of changes from the UCP 500.  These changes include:

• A reduction in the number of articles from 49 to 39
• New articles on “Definitions” and “Interpretations” providing more clarity and precision in the rules
• A definitive description of negotiation as “purchase” of drafts of documents
• The replacement of the phrase “reasonable time” for acceptance or refusal of documents by a maximum period of five banking days
• New provisions allow for the discounting of deferred payment credits
• Banks can now accept an insurance document that contains reference to any exclusion clause

UCP600

April 4, 2006 - New AES regulations once again held up for approval.

The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection would not approve the Census proposed AES regulations without 2 significant changes.  1.  Both DHS and CBP ask that either post departure filing (Option 4) be dropped, or the approval requirements need to be substantially increased for both new and current Option 4 filers.  2.  DHS has asked for a National Interest Determination to allow sharing of confidential export information with foreign governments. 

Regardless of the stall in approval, carriers have already adopted their own mandatory documentation filing dates, "no docs, no load" policies, which have operationally already put in place the currently proposed AES regulations

February 28, 2006 - Revised AES regulations deadline.

Census has been promising changes to AES filing rules since Feb 2005. They were supposed to be approved in December, but were delayed. Now the anticipated approval date is by the end of March.  The final regulations will take effect 30 days after publication in the government's Federal Register.  The industry has 90 days after the effective date to implement the regulations in their day-to-day business processes.

Changes include:
EEI’s must be filed and receive “ITN” acceptance number before submitting documents to transport carrier.
EEI’s must be filed in advance – 24 hours for Ocean, 2 hours for Air and Rail, and 1 hour for Truck.
Option 4 will be resumed and accepting new applicants, however forwarders may not apply on behalf of shippers anymore.
SED’s now referred to as EEI – Electronic Export Information.
Fines for errors – late filing, incorrect quantities, weights, etc. will be enforced with the emphasis being put on the shippers to take responsibility for their export transactions - $1100 per violation per day, and criminal penalties for fraudulent or misleading AES data.

“CBP, BIS and ICE will be responsible for
issuing penalties. The Census Foreign Trade
Division will provide a referral to these
agencies. “Such referrals may include the
name of a company repeatedly late on filing
their EEI (Electronic Export Information)
in AES, having a high fatal error rate, not
correcting or validating questionable data,
or providing false or misleading information
in the form of incorrect classification
numbers, quantities, or shipping weights,”
said Jerome Greenwell, chief of the Census
Foreign Trade Division’s Regulations.”

The emphasis here is the shipper must understand thoroughly the scope of these regulations, what data they are responsible for, and have a process in place to assure they are providing the freight forwarder with complete, accurate, and timely EEI data for each shipment. 

Ocean carriers are adding their own document submission deadlines which further tighten up the time frame.
Below is an excerpt from a notice Mediterranean Shipping Company has sent out:

“IMPORTANT NOTICE
New York February 21, 2006
Effective March 6th 2006 MSC will start in the port of Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA a policy of no documents no load.
MSC will follow the Custom and Border Protection enforcement of already existing rules & regulations.
If your correct and complete master B/L containing proper AES or Custom exemptions is not received by 3pm Eastern Time the day of the ship cut off, MSC will be forced to roll your cargo to the following sailing until your documents are received.
MSC will assess a $75 roll fee & $75 re-handling fee to be applied for each rollover will apply.”

This is something carriers have been promising to begin enforcing for some time now. Maersk started enforcing the same requirement for all ports a short while ago. I believe this is the start of what all other carriers will soon require.

The important day to remember here is “SHIP CUT OFF”. This is not to be confused with the sailing day. Ship cut off is typically 2 days prior to sailing day. While AES regulations allow filing of the EEI 24 hours prior to sailing, it is 2 days too late if you plan on having your cargo loaded on that vessel.

This doesn’t have an impact on those shipments loading at inland points where the rail transit time to the port is a week. In the case of these intermodal bookings, as long as Harbour continues to receive your documentation 24 hours after loading, we will continue as always to complete the carrier master B/L and EEI filing within 1 business day of receipt of your documents, and be compliant with the carrier’s loading policy.

The impact will be on the Port to Port bookings. In the case of Port to Port bookings, Harbour will need to receive your documents 2 business days prior to the carrier’s “ship cut off”. This will allow Harbour to process the master B/L and EEI by the following business day, and be compliant with the carrier’s loading policy. Documentation received by Harbour later than 2 business days prior to the carrier’s “ship cut off” may result in the carrier rolling your cargo to the next vessel and assessing their respective late fees. Those fees will be passed on to the shipper or consignee as applicable.

It may help to think of booking your cargo for an intended vessel in terms of “when will my paperwork be ready?” rather than “when can we get the cargo out the door?”

Thank you,

Mike Skleney
Vice President of Operations
Harbour International, Incoporated

December 5th, 2005 - Concerned About Late SED Filing Penalties?

The final rules for Mandatory Filing of SEDs (Shippers Export Declaration) through the free Automated Export System (AES) filing website, are expected to be issued before the end of December, 2005. The rules require SED's to be filed at least 24 hours in advance of departure from U. S. port where cargo is laden. Once the rules are published, there will be a 90-day grace period to become compliant before fines and penalties are or may be imposed. After that time, USPPI's (U. S. Principal Parties of Interest), Forwarders, Agents, and/or Carriers may be assessed with civil or criminal penalties for non compliance beginning at $100 per late filing.

Harbour has been compliant in filing with AES since August of 2000.  In 2005, having received our customers' documents within 24 hours of shipment; 88% of their SED’s were filed in the same day, 95.4% were filed within two business days - far in advance of the 24 hours prior to sailing deadline. In 2005, 97.08% of our AES entries were made on time.

You can find information by going to www.aesdirect.gov or by contacting the Automated Export System Branch at (800) 549-0595.

Thank you,

Mike Skleney

Vice President of Operations

Harbour International, Incoporated

July-August 2005 - WWS/World Wide Shipping Magazine

Most of us are aware of the efficiencies gained by the manufacturing industry through the management techniques of Ford, Deming, Ohno, Shingo and others.  For more than a decade, the manufacturing sector has realized great success practicing "lean" management techniques.  Isn't it time for those of us in the global logistics industry to "cut the fat" from our "super sized" processes?  It's easy to do!

Read more from an article in WWS/World Wide Shipping Magazine

January 25, 2005 - Executive Summary - A Journal of Commerce Annual Review and Outlook article

As U.S. manufacturers continue to compete globally, logistics competency will increasingly become a competitive differentiator.  The U.S. global logistics industry is doing little to prepare for this occasion.

Read more from an article in the JOC.

October 18, 2004 - Can Global Logistics Go Lean?

Lean is a means of identifying and removing waste in a value stream, resulting in improved flow.

Lean concepts have been applied to manufacturing and other business enterprises since the early nineties.  Lean is responsible for eliminating millions of dollars of cost and improving cycle time, order to cash, communication, productivity, and customer satisfaction in thousands of companies.

Read more from an article in World Wide Shipping Magazine.

October 18, 2004 - Making Logistics "Lean"

Global Logistics consists of communicating information all the way down the line, so our focus is on helping our customers improve their flow of information.

Read more from an article in The Journal of Commerce Magazine.

See links to other Lean resources.

May 21st, 2004 – SC Johnson recognizes “Outstanding Customer Service”

SC Johnson has awarded Harbour International Incorporated the “Outstanding Customer Service Award” for the fourth consecutive year. In a ceremony held at Harbour’s office Katie Scheller, U.S. Import & Export Manager, reviewed the accomplishments attained through the partnership between SC Johnson and Harbour including increased efficiency for S C Johnson’s staff and improved service performance for their customers. SC Johnson is a family-owned and –managed business dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates. SC Johnson is regularly recognized as being “Best of the Best”; its practices are commonly benchmarked by other companies interested in improving. Based in Racine, Wisconsin, the company is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, personal care and insect control.

May 18th, 2004 Harbour Announces “STAR” Program

Harbour is pleased to introduce its Spontaneous Thanks and Recognition ("STAR") program. "STAR" provides a means for all of Harbour’s business associates to spontaneously recognize each other’s exemplary daily service. 

Everyone would enjoy working in an environment characterized by patience, kindness, gentleness, and joy. Unfortunately the nature of international logistics today isn’t quite that way. Probably a more accurate characterization of our daily work is fast paced, results driven, non personal, electronic, statistically analyzed, and most often, thank-less.

“STAR” provides an opportunity for everyone (shippers, consignees, employees, carriers) Harbour engages in business with to spontaneously recognize the patient, kind, gentle, or otherwise exemplary service of any one of our other associates (shippers, consignees, employees, carriers).

Visit our web site, click on the “STAR”, and learn more about the program, then send a “STAR” to someone you do business with today! 

Sending a “STAR” will result in a “STAR Citation Certificate” being sent to the recipient and the recipient’s manager.

February 6, 2004 - Harbour is a certified member of the C-TPAT program

In November 2003, Harbour completed an agreement to voluntarily participate in Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism "C-TPAT", representing our commitment to C-TPAT security recommendations and our commitment to work with our service providers and customers throughout the supply chain to enhance security processes.

On February 6,  2004, Harbour received its C-TPAT confirmation letter from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, welcoming us as a certified member of the C-TPAT program.  The participation of Harbour, as well as others from the broker and transportation intermediary communities, is but a first important step in what promises to be a sustained effort to meet the challenge posed by the terrorist threat to the Unites States. Our role in the C-TPAT program is to continue current efforts to secure Harbour's operations against possible compromise, communicate our efforts to our business partners, and maintain a high level of compliance in other Customs related areas.

Customs' commitment to Harbour, consistent with their mission-critical objectives, is to provide an entry process marked by the efficient release of goods and the prompt resolution of any outstanding issues affecting Customs processing of shipments.

February 3, 2003 - Harbour honored with SC Johnson’s 2002 Outstanding Customer Service Award

SC Johnson has honored Harbour with the “2002 Outstanding Customer Service Award”.

SC Johnson, the 116 year old, Racine, Wisconsin based manufacturer of household cleaning products employees more than 9500 people and sells products in about 100 countries. SC Johnson is highly regarded for its high quality products and excellence in the workplace. SC Johnson recently ranked 29th on Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list.

Harbour is very proud to receive this honor for the third consecutive year.

October 4, 2002 - Industry Leader Recognizes Harbour

"The team at Harbour has put their considerable experience to use in creating an online system that truly reflects the unique characteristics of international freight forwarding. They have successfully blended modern internet technology with deep industry knowledge to provide an easy-to-use system that guides their customers through the complexity of arranging international freight movements."

John Lanigan
President & CEO
Logistics.com, Inc.

June 2, 2002 - SC Johnson Presents “2001 Outstanding Customer Service Award” to Harbour

For the second consecutive year, S.C. Johnson has awarded Harbour International the “2001 Outstanding Customer Service Award”. With this award S.C. Johnson continues to recognize Harbour International for their outstanding freight forwarding service. Harbour is determined to win the 2002 award aided by the introduction of their new online freight forwarding service www.harbouronline.com

May 6th, 2002 - Harbour launches www.harbouronline.com

As Harbour continues to support its customer’s international shipments, we are pleased to announce; effective Monday, May 6th, 2002 Harbour began using www.harbouronline.com to conduct its business. Harbour’s aim in creating this system was to build the most comprehensive system in the industry while supporting our process oriented approach to logistics management. We hope you realize the benefits upon your initial visit to the site.

Should you wish further information regarding how to use this system, please contact any one of our Operations Personnel. Should you wish to arrange either an on-line or in person demonstration of the system please contact Tim Schwerzler at tims@harbouronline.com.