CBP encourages the commercial community to use electronic export manifests.
CBP thinks that fully digitizing and automating export-related filings prior to outbound departure from the United States can save the trade community crucial time and money.
Since 2018, CBP has been running an electronic export manifest (EEM) trial program for exports via ocean, air, and rail carriers. All paper-based manifest filing for exports is prohibited under the pilot program.
According to James Swanson, director of CBP’s cargo security and control section, the EEM program will eventually replace present paper-filing methods, which may be time-consuming and labor-intensive.
“Our goal is to get that information in as soon as an export is generated,” Swanson said during a media roundtable conference on July 28. “Right now, we don’t obtain that transportation information until it’s ready to be delivered at the port.”
According to Swanson, export data is generated when a package leaves a manufacturing site or warehouse and travels to a port for delivery to its final destination.
“A lot of that transportation information has already flowed into the system,” Swanson said, “and we’d like to see it as soon as possible.” “In this manner, I may notify an exporter, ‘That shipment is ready to travel.'” It’s not necessary for me to do anything with it. Or perhaps I need to view a document. ‘Could you get that document to me while it’s in transit?'”
By viewing an export shipment’s data as soon as it is generated, CBP can discover problems early in the supply chain, allowing issues to be remedied and delays avoided, according to Swanson.
All electronic import manifest data must be filed via CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system, which has gradually replaced paper documentation requirements for cross-border trade with electronic data transmissions.
In 2015, CBP launched an electronic export manifest pilot program for air, ocean, and rail. Swanson stated that an electronic export manifest pilot program for the trucking industry is in the works.
“Our next significant step is to work on a truck manifest,” he explained. “We’re aiming to construct the manifest in such a way that it coincides with Mexico and Canada so that we can exchange that data.”
The pilot programs for air, maritime, and rail exporters have been extended multiple times in the last seven years as CBP has attempted to increase participation with limited success, according to authorities.
“We had numerous parties in the pilot in 2015, and we selected the participants in each mode,” Swanson explained. “Some of them started transmitting to us. Others sent a few messages and then stopped. “Economic considerations came into play.”
One of the concerns raised by the trade community about the transition from paper to electronic filings was the cost of upgrading equipment and computer software. Swanson believes that international trade has grown too large for freight forwarders and carriers to rely solely on paper papers.
“We can’t function in that paper mode.” “Trade is too huge, too quick, and involves much too much money,” Swanson said. “You understand that the investments you must make in technology are critical since they are what keep your business running.” We learned the hard way in many situations what happens when you remove technology and how tough it is to run our operations without it.”
According to CBP spokesperson Jeffrey Quiones, the agency was unable to provide any projected expenses for exporters or carriers “since each organization has distinct expenditures connected to their operational structure for the pilots.”
“The CBP Office of Regulations and Rulings is now doing an economic analysis of the Electronic Export Manifest,” Quiones explained to FreightWaves.
Exporters sometimes provide a paper manifest to CBP by the fourth day after sailing or flying under the existing CBP export manifest filing process for the ocean and air goods. According to Quiones, the majority of export manifests are provided as paper or electronic copies.
“For air and maritime manifests, the filing process is still paper-based,” Quiones explained. “Vessel carriers can currently file electronic manifest copies, however, that functionality will be phased out by October.” Not all ocean or air manifests are filed by the carrier as incomplete manifests (pro forma) and then delivered as a complete manifest up to four days later. The port must grant approval to file a pro forma manifest, and CBP must obtain complete manifests before departure.”
Another issue influencing poor participation in the EEM pilot projects, according to Swanson, is that electronic manifests are not yet a CBP mandate. That might change by the end of the year if CBP issues a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) requiring electronic export manifests.
Once CBP publishes an NPRM in the Federal Register, the electronic export manifest will begin a process of soliciting public opinions from stakeholders, followed by reviews and procedure changes. Swanson estimates that the process could take months or years.
“The trigger is the NPRM,” he explained. “That’s the element that the majority of the trade is looking for to demonstrate our seriousness.”
GXO will close its Fort Worth facility and lay off 116 employees.
According to a recent letter given to state regulators, GXO Logistics Inc. intends to permanently close a Fort Worth, Texas, business and lay off 116 people by September 30.
According to company authorities, the facility will cease operations for client Charter Communications.
GXO indicated in a filing with the Texas Workforce Commission that “the entire Charter Communications business will be closed, and all employees will be impacted.”
GXO Logistics (NYSE: GXO) is a contract logistics provider based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It maintains over 900 facilities in 28 countries and employs 120,000 people worldwide. One-third of GXO’s facilities are in the United States.
FedEx Ground is establishing a distribution site near Houston.
FedEx Ground has signed a lease at the Port 10 Logistics Center in Baytown, Texas, to open its tenth distribution center in the Houston area.
According to FedEx, the 337,000-square-foot distribution rail-served center site “was chosen because of its ease of access to major roads, closeness to clients’ distribution centers, and a strong local community workforce for recruiting employees.”
FedEx executives did not specify how many employees will be employed at the plant. The distribution hub will open in November.
Baytown is 30 miles east of Houston and three miles from the Houston Ship Channel. The Port 10 Logistics Center includes more than 3 million square feet of warehousing and distribution space, and has recently announced plans for a new 400-railcar storage yard project, which is set to be finished in 2023.
Hisun Motors Corp. establishes a $105 million facility in Mexico.
Hisun Motors Corp., a manufacturer of power sport vehicles, recently constructed a new manufacturing facility in Saltillo, Mexico.
The plant will employ 1,500 people and will manufacture two types of all-terrain vehicles. According to Mexico Industry, company officials intend to produce 5,000 units in the first year and up to 50,000 units per year by 2024.
The plant will first serve the American and Canadian markets, but officials hope to expand to serve other markets in the future.
Hisun Motors Corp. is a Chinese firm with headquarters in McKinney, Texas.
