1 February 2005

CBP turns "e-manifest" test back on

The following article is excerpted from the 1 February 2005 edition of “American Shipper”.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it has restarted its electronic truck manifest pilot test at the Blaine, Wash., border crossing four weeks after the program was suspended to correct technical problems with the new computer system.

Blaine is the first port of entry to test the ability of motor carriers to automatically transmit truck manifest data and obtain release of their cargo, driver and equipment via the via CBP's new automated trade processing system, known as ACE, or electronic data interchange messaging.

The truck manifest is supposed to speed up processing at the border by eliminating the use of paper documents, and allow CBP to automatically match up the truck manifest with the customs entry filed by a broker for the trucker before arrival.

The e-manifest project is seen as critical by major cross-border trucking companies to help meet CBP security requirements for advance electronic submission of manifest data. Other modes are able to file manifest data directly to CBP because they have existing automated manifest systems in place.

CBP postponed the pilot test after slow system response resulted in delays for commercial vehicles trying to cross from Canada into the United States….