|
ONLY two
out of three Bureau of Customs partner companies will be
chosen to process electronic documents that identify
contents of shipments twelve hours prior to their
arrival in the Philippines.
A
Customs official said last week that the Association of
International Shipping Lines (AISL) will pick any two of
three Customs-accredited value-added service providers,
including Intercommerce Network Service, Cargo Data
Exchange Center, and E-Konek Pilipinas. The chosen
entities will handle the advance submission of inward
foreign manifests, or documents which list cargo
contents, which will be submitted by the carriers and
freight forwarders before their respective shipments
reach domestic ports.
The said
measure, which should have been implemented last year,
was established to comply with a Customs order
instructing all shipping lines, nonvessel operating
common carriers, cargo consolidators, coloaders, and
break-bulk agents to provide the government accurate
data regarding the arrival of vessels and shipments in
any local port.
Although
the order intends to expedite the release of cargo, hard
copies are also required to be submitted upon the goods’
arrival since importers and brokers will only have to
present the original hard copy of the manifests.
For its
part, the bureau will use the services offered by its
partners since it currently has no capability to
maintain a system to handle the data generated from the
list of incoming goods. The agency said it would need
more than P1 billion just to upgrade its system to allow
a direct link between the bureau and the carriers.
Customs
Deputy Commissioner Alexander Arevalo also said that the
company which will be left out of the arrangement will
soon be permitted to provide IFM services once the
foreign shipping group allows it.
The
official is set to meet with the AISL, Philippine Ship
Agents Association, AISL, Philippine International
Seafreight Forwarders Inc. and Aircargo Forwarders of
the Philippines Inc. to discuss the start of the
project’s implementation.
The
bureau has already started the project’s parallel run
late last month and expects its full swing within the
first two months of the year. |
