Changes Effective 1/10/04 in how Customs Clearance will be changed as a result of the “Special Bill” as it relates to cargo manifest rules.

Reminder, NVOCC's (AIC) will be transmitting the initial manifest to Customs 24 hours (or more) prior to departure at origin the same as they have been - only now they will be showing their own bills as house bills and adding the carriers master bill of lading information which had not been done since February 2003.

In addition, the Carrier (Steamship Line) will also transmit their master B/L information as well. When there is a match between the NVOCC and the Carrier B/L, US Customs will then close the NVOCC's bill of lading and the Master Bill of Lading will then be the reference for the entry of shipment in the Customs AMS System. This is to take effect for all manifests files on or after Saturday 1/10/04.

If you receive an arrival notice from an NVOCC you will need to pay a lot of attention to the date cargo was manifested. A good indication (but not perfect) will be the “on board date”.

If it was manifested (on board) prior to 1/10 you will still use the NVOCC's SCAC code and their house bill number as the bill of lading on the Customs entry. This should be apparent as the NVOCC’s arrival notice should indicate the house bill number as the master bill; like we are doing currently.

If cargo was manifested after 1/10 then you will be using the carriers SCAC code and the carriers master B/L number the way we previously did prior to the 24 hour rule going into effect. The NVOCC’s arrival notice should reflect the carriers Master Bill of Lading.

In addition, for shipments manifested after 1/10/04, in addition to reverting back to using the carriers Master B/L, you can show the NVOCC bill of lading. However please keep in mind that it will be the master bill of lading (and their SCAC code) that will be the main data element for the Customs entry.

If at some point the NVOCC has a shipment transmitted using the NVOCC's SCAC code prior to 1/10/04 but a correction is required to the manifest after 1/10/04, or an I.T. is cut after 1/10 04 - the manifest will need to be corrected to show the Master Bill of Lading (and carriers SCAC code) rather than the house bill of lading (and NVOCC’s SCAC Code) as the manifest/I.T. was re-filed after 1/10/04 and would now fall under the new rules of the special bill. Subsequently the Customs entry would require a ‘bill of lading update’ to change the entry to read the carriers master bill of lading and SCAC code to the carriers code.

Maurine Cecil – NCBFAA NVOCC chair/ President LACBFFA

562-435-2327 – maurinec@shipamerican.com