CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
CBP has learned of "several instances of containerized cargo pilferage and/or manipulation between Lesotho and the Port of Durban, South Africa," the agency said in a notice to Customs-Trade Partners Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) members. The notice is dated "December 2013" but was recently posted to CBP's site. Thieves in the area "steal the original cargo while in transit and then counterbalance the container with items of no value so that the weight of the container remains the same as the original weight so as not to alert local Customs officials," said CBP. The thieves have most commonly targeted shipments of apparel and textiles and it's not unusual to "find employees of local companies involved in cargo theft in South Africa," said CBP.
CBP completed 2,111 total Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) validations, including 569 initial validations and 1,542 revalidations for 2013 as of Jan. 2, it said in an update on program statistics. Validations continue to be down compared to previous years. There has also been a total of 1,768 suspensions and 1,280 C-TPAT removals.
CBP completed 1,792 total Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) validations, including 480 initial validations and 1,312 revalidations for 2013 as of Dec. 2, it said in an update on program statistics. Validations continue to be down compared to previous years, the update said. There has also been a total of 1,745 suspensions and 1,264 C-TPAT removals.
The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) will create a "communal platform to map the automotive supply chain" following an agreement with General Motors, Chrysler and Toyota, the group said in a press release. The agreement marks a " first big step toward creating a centralized supplier data platform for greater visibility into the global supply chain," said J. Scot Sharland, AIAG executive director. "Led by these three early adopters, we're launching with a system that puts command and control of the data into the suppliers' hands and is driven by a federal border security initiative."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed on Dec. 12 a lower court ruling against CBP’s imposition of nearly $38 million in penalties on Union Pacific for contraband found in Mexican trains crossing the border. CBP had imposed the penalties after finding illegal drugs on trains brought to the U.S. border by Ferrocarril Mexicano and Kansas City Southern de Mexico, even though Union Pacific didn’t control the trains until after the CBP inspections. The Nebraska U.S. District Court rejected the penalties in 2012, in part because Union Pacific had no reasonable way of preventing cartels from putting drugs on other companies’ trains. The 8th Circuit mostly agreed with the circuit court, vacating only a court order to issue regulations related to the standard of care required of common carriers.
Border congestion at U.S.-Mexican overland ports of entry is causing billions of dollars of bilateral commercial loss on an annual basis, said witnesses at a Dec. 9 House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere field hearing titled “Improving Security and Facilitating Commerce with Mexico at America’s Southern Border.” Subcommittee lawmakers held the hearing in Tucson, Ariz. Witnesses said better CBP staffing and expanded trusted trader programs would improve the processing of trade between the two countries.
CBP posted documents related to phase two of its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Cargo Release test. Scheduled to begin on Jan. 4 as part of ACE Deployment B, phase two will expand the Cargo Release test to the ocean and rail environments. CBP posted updates to two ACE Automated Broker Interface (ABI) CATAIR chapters related to the test. The agency in November expanded eligibility for the pilot, which was formerly known as Simplified Entry, by no longer requiring customs brokers and importer self-filers have Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) status (see 13110115).
Kone Inc. said it joined CBP's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, after evaluation of its international supply chain security measures. The result will be reduced inspection time for imports, and a customs account manager for supply chain security, training and information sharing, it said.