SCMv2.0

Elephant Patrol ?

Interesting small little tidbit of fun that I missed. Thanks Susan !!

"To my surprise, the band played on, the elephants splashed away, and nobody showed up,” Bhakta said of the stunt. “I’m astounded. [..]   The elephant never made landfall into Mexico, but I tell you something, he could have made 15 laps back and forth, but no one showed up,” said Raj Peter Bhakta, a former star on the NBC show “The Apprentice,” who also is a Republican candidate for the 13th District U.S. House of Representatives seat in Eastern Pennsylvania"

The running Candidate is in favor of “sensible immigration reform” and supports a border fence, local law enforcement assistance with immigration laws and the use of the National Guard troops to help the U.S. Border Patrol.

If I can get an elephant led by a mariachi band into this country, I think Osama bin Laden could get across with all the weapons of mass destruction he could get into this country,” Bhakta said.

gives your customers the 'gimlet' stare !!

Give Your Customers a Gimlet Stare

Whether it is the producing company, the broker, the consolidator of shipments, the freight  forwarder, the carrier, the CBP wants any and all to screen their customers thoroughly and put them through what in one case it calls a “suspicious activities checklist.” Customers must be carefully approved, one practice  cited being to require them “to complete a security questionnaire and a business profile that includes a request for financial information and business references.” This Highway Carrier also sends management on personal visits “to the premises of each new customer (and periodically to existing customers) to verify security measures, particularly for product packaging, staging, container/trailer inspections, and seal control.”

RFID for guest workers won't work

Newswireless , bring me a hyptehical question,

"Are there really plans to insert RFID chips under your skin if you get a work permit for the US? And if there are, will they work?

The latest scare story relates to the appearance on American TV of VeriChip's Chairman Scott Silverman this week.

"He bandied about the idea of chipping foreigners on national television Tuesday" reported RINF

This is worst then the mintory reports. Even you are a guest worker, immigrant and/or traveling through, I don't think that it will work. Too much infrastucture deployment. Where will the funds come for "chipping" approx 14Million foreign workers ?

ACE and south side !!

THE DHS And CBP are setting the tone ..good for them !!

ACE is operational at the Southern Border

The following is excerpted from a news release issued on 24 May 2006 by US Customs and Border Protection.

"From Brownsville, Texas, to Otay Mesa, California, ACE now stretches more than 1,900 miles along the U.S. Mexican border," said Cargo Systems Program Office Executive Director Louis Samenfink. "With the completion of installations on the southern border, ACE is in place to significantly enhance border security and expedite trade, especially as we transition to electronic manifests, a powerful, time saving tool for CBP and the trade community."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) completed installations of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in California and Arizona this week, including the ports at Otay Mesa, Calexico, Andrade, and Tecate in California, and San Luis, Arizona. ACE is the commercial trade processing system being developed by CBP to enhance border security and expedite legitimate trade. Eventually ACE will be the lead system at all ports when, in the coming years, capabilities are rolled out for air, rail, and sea cargo processing.

The electronic manifest (e-Manifest) capability is currently available at all ACE ports. Truck carriers are encouraged to establish ACE truck carrier accounts now to ensure efficient border operations when e-Manifests are eventually mandated at all land ports. More than 3,000 e-Manifests have been filed to date. The faster carriers adopt e-Manifests, the faster the border crossing process speeds up for everyone….

With the completion of California, ACE has now been rolled out in every state on the southern border of the United States. Soon installations will begin in the northeast. There are currently 43 ACE ports in the states of Arizona, California, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Washington. CBP is working diligently to finish deployment at all land-border ports.

RFID and DLA

The US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) announced that Odin Technologies, which handles RFID testing, software development, and deployment, has been awarded the contract to deploy passive RFID equipment throughout 26 facilities globally by the end of 2007.

The RFID space is heating up. With the DOD pushing the envelope, other parties should sit up and take note

BCP Enforces Truck rules !!

The (US) CBP recently issued a notice stating that phase four of its truck advance manifest rule (AMR) enforcement strategy will begin on May 15 at ports of entry where the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is operational.

Currently, when a truck arrives at a port and the required electronic cargo information has not been transmitted to CBP, no enforcement action is taken if the driver is able to present proof that the information was sent to an ABI filer prior to the truck’s arrival at the port. This procedure was implemented because the truck carrier did not have the ability to transmit cargo information to CBP and instead had to depend upon a third party (the ABI filer).

Today, however, with the implementation of ACE at various northern and southern border ports, truck carriers now have the ability to transmit advance electronic cargo information to CBP directly via the ACE truck manifest system, either through the carrier’s own ACE portal or through its Electronic Data Interface (EDI) system. In addition, carriers may have their information transmitted to CBP with the assistance of a service provider or other party that has direct transmission capabilities. It is the carrier’s business decision to send the information via an ABI filer or directly via ACE.

In light of these circumstances, beginning May 15, any conveyance arriving at an ACE implemented port without having transmitted advance cargo information (PAPS,  QP) to CBP by the time of arrival will receive neither a permit to unlade nor a permit to proceed. In the case of quota class merchandise (live entries), the manifest must clearly identify quota merchandise. These shipments will be referred to secondary for processing in accordance with QBT-04-023. At this time, the advance manifesting requirements for quota class merchandise (PAPS, QP) will not be enforced, since the entry/entry summary will be prepared after the carrier arrives in secondary.
In cases where an ACE participant arrives at the border and has failed to comply with the AMR, the driver will be referred to secondary, where he will wait until the required cargo information is electronically received by CBP. Once that occurs, the conveyance and cargo will be processed in accordance with existing procedures. At this time, no action (penalty or denial of entry) will be taken against an ACE participating driver who fails to comply with the AMR. This policy will be implemented for each port that does not currently have ACE 30 days after the date ACE is fully deployed and operational at that port.

New Portal for C-TPAT

C-TPAT Security Link Portal

US Customs and Border Security (CBP) has announced forthcoming implementation of a new C-TPAT internet  communications portal.  The C-TPAT Security Link Portal is designed to enhance processing and communication for all C-TPAT participants and certified C-TPAT members.

The C-TPAT Security Link Portal will be mandatory for all eligible participants, beginning in May.  Specific implementation and access information will be provided to all current C-TPAT participants.

The CBP has provided a questions and answers page for this portal here

Open C-TPAT Range in Canada !!

These states are so interesting.

" 45,000 Canadian companies registered to trade with the US, yet less than three per cent are part of the US government's C-TPAT program, a statistic that's not sitting well with Washington"

This leaves the market open for Consultantcy /Trades services for the remaining 97% who are NOT certified !! Now, the average cost ( consultant time) approx $10-$15K for an   C-TPAT application. So this becomes a big market opporuniity for an Trade Service Professional. The market looks like a $450M peice of the pie.

I wonder when UPS, FEDEX , DHL or just about any other player wakes up to bundle of $$$ just waiting to be plicked.

anything said there stayed there !!

The International Compliance Professionals Association (ICPA) held its third annual conference March 6-9 and …  attendees… were treated to a series of expert presentations and opportunities to exchange best practices and war stories.  All activities were conducted with the understanding that "anything said there stayed there. Information in this worthwhile organization is available at www.icpainc.org.

The confidentiality issue came up about 10 years ago under a kind of reverse import clearance proposal with the United Kingdom. The customs authorities of each country would act in behalf of the other, and a pilot program was established for volunteer participants. This arrangement sounded logical at first. Who besides Canada (which actually tracks our exports by exchanging its import data with us), could we better trust than the UK to honor a gentleman's agreement? One problem that came to mind was how such data could have been limited to the UK. What data-sharing arrangements exist among European Union states?

CornField Issues !!

Ottawa moved closer yesterday to a trade war with Washington over U.S. farm subsidies that could see long-term tariffs on grain corn imports (importers be warned it could be $1.47 a bushel) -- A measure opponents warn could drive up the cost of everything from tortilla chips to livestock feed. Critics caution it could prompt a backlash from the U.S. government and lead to retaliatory tariffs on Canadian products.

Canadian hog and cattle farmers could be among those hit hardest if Ottawa doesn't change course