CBP Completes ACE at Land Border Ports

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced it has completed the installation of its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) truck e-Manifest system at 99 land border ports. Once ACE is fully implemented at a port, truck carriers must transmit advance electronic cargo data to CBP through the ACE Truck Manifest System. The information must be transmitted at least one hour prior to the carrier’s arrival at the border.

All land border ports in the following states have had the ACE system installed: Arizona, California, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Washington. At land border ports in these states, penalties for non-compliance can be considerable once Phase 3 enforcement of ACE begins. Under Phase 3, any truck carrier that arrives at an affected land border port without first successfully transmitting an e-Manifest to CBP for that trip may be denied a permit to proceed into the U.S. Carriers that make no attempt to comply with the requirements may be deemed “egregious violators” by CBP and receive a monetary penalty of US$5,000 for the first offence and US$10,000 for subsequent offences. The fine may be issued to the driver in care of the carrier under 19 USC 1436.

The mandatory implementation of e-Manifest is still pending at all land border ports in the state of Alaska. According to a recent Federal Register announcement, trucks entering the U.S. through land border ports of entry in the state of Alaska (Alcan, Dalton Cache, and Skagway) will be required to transmit advanced cargo information to CBP via the ACE Truck Manifest System effective February 11, 2008. Enforcement of mandatory truck e-Manifest at the Alaska ports is expected to follow the same pattern of phased enforcement as the previous groups of ports. The Federal Register announcement can be accessed at the following URL: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/E7-22133.pdf

When transmitting an e-Manifest, carriers are well-advised to enter the Broker Filer Number in the appropriate field of the e-Manifest. Doing so enables the customs broker to receive electronic information from the carrier on shipment control number (SCN), piece count and other data. The customs broker’s entry and the carrier's e-Manifest must be identical matches, and providing this information will assist in preventing delays, denial of entry or even penalties.

FedEx Trade Networks offers customers a wide variety of services to support the implementation of e-Manifest, including consulting and training, full service preparation, and an enhanced system that allows database set-up and use by the customer with transmission and filing via FedEx Trade Networks. More information on these services is available on the FedEx Trade Networks Web site at http://www.ftn.fedex.com.

Previous FedEx Trade Networks bulletins regarding truck e-Manifest were posted on the following dates: in 2007: October 24, October 12, September 17, July 30 (two bulletins), June 12, May 15, April 26, March 20, March 2, and January 16; in 2006: October 30, August 10, and March 1; in 2005: October 18, February 2, and January 19.

For more information, please contact your local FedEx Trade Networks Transport & Brokerage office. For a complete list of office locations go to http://www.ftn.fedex.com/locations/index.html.