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Singapore,
London, Oakland, CA, 30 January, 2003 – With enforcement of U.S. Customs’
advance manifest rule beginning February 2, APL, a leading global transportation
company, today urged shippers bringing goods into the United States for a final
effort to achieve full compliance.
The rule requires detailed manifest information to be filed with U.S. Customs
at least 24 hours before goods are loaded on vessels bound for the U.S.
APL acting CEO, Ron Widdows, said the effort in recent weeks by shippers, importers
and carriers had seen a dramatic increase in compliance across all APL’s sailings
for the U.S. Most of APL’s mainline load ports for U.S.-bound cargo were now in
excess of 90% compliance, with some in full compliance over the last two weeks.
“There has been a concerted effort across the board, which is encouraging,” he
said. “There have been concerns around some major ports, but we are seeing a huge
improvement, particularly at Hong Kong, where compliance has moved from less than
60 per cent of our customers to in excess of 80 per cent over the last three weeks,”
he said.
“But there is still a gap to close, and the burden of compliance – and the impact
of non-compliance – ultimately falls on shippers.”
From February 2, U.S. Customs will not allow carriers to load any U.S.-bound cargo
if it had not been fully manifested by the specified cut-off times.
“At APL, we’ve been working closely with our customers, and on our own preparedness.
We believe we’re as ready as any carrier can be to fulfill our part of the obligation,”
he said. “But we also need to see a final effort from our customers, because at
the end of day we’re only the conduit for the manifest information to U.S. Customs.
Ultimately, compliance depends on shippers themselves getting over the hurdle.”
APL’s sophisticated e-commerce platform was an advantage for customers because
it enabled faster data collection and transmission, and greater accuracy, which
meant later manifest cut-off times. There was a strong focus on those tools, he
said.
APL Vice President Sales Process and Customer Support, Ted Fordney, said the company
had been fine-tuning systems and processes to support advance manifesting during
the 60-day ‘grace’ period prior to full enforcement.
“APL is absolutely committed to full compliance and full ships – that’s in everyone’s
interests,” he said.
“Local APL staff have been liasing with forwarders and exporters to identify any
gaps in information and in timing to help customers meet the advance manifest
requirements. The intent of this effort is to move toward 100% compliance, and
to give us and our customers practical experience during this grace period – without
anyone facing penalties or missed loads.
“The tough reality is that we will have to roll cargo onto other sailings if we
don’t have the information in time. Those shippers who are ready and meet the
requirements will get the space,” Mr Fordney said.
About APL
APL provides customers around the world with container transportation services
through a network combining high-quality intermodal operations with state-of-the-art
information technology. APL’s sister company APL Logistics offers end-to-end supply
chain management services enabled by leading information technology. Both companies
are subsidiaries of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), a global transportation
and logistics company engaged in shipping and related businesses.
Media contacts:
Americas:
Jerry Drelling, tel. +1-510-272-8208 or jerry_drelling@apl.com; Asia/Middle East:
Paul Barrett, tel. +65-6371-5022 or paul_barrett@apl.com; Europe: Michael Haig,
tel +44-1737-248-300 or michael@isiscomms.com
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