Shippers question carriers’ ‘silly’ demands to meet new EU security regulations

According to Andrew Traill, managing partner of Shippers‘ Voice, shippers are asking why carriers are making the introduction of the new EU security rules such an onerous business.

The EU’s advanced trade data rules requires that an Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) be submitted to EU authorities 24 hours prior to cargo loading for sea freight. However, some carriers are demanding this data five days in advance.

One North American shipper of temperature-controlled cargo has been faced with the carrier demanding the information, including the container number and seal details, before that carrier has even delivered the container to the shipper for loading.

Furthermore, one of these carriers required government health certificate numbers by the same cut-off date, despite the reality that empty containers may not even be released for loading by their documentation cut-off date, and government regulators certainly aren’t going to issue OMIC certificates before cargo is containerised.

It is apparent that some carriers (and it is suggested to be European carriers) are threatening to impose charges (read: "penalties"), if the shippers exporting to the EU do not supply them with a complete ocean bill of lading (OBL) including the container number and seal by an arbitrary deadline set by the carriers themselves.

To date, the North American shipper has only experienced this from a couple of the lines he deals with. He commented that this probably says more about how different carriers cope with tackling the same problems, and suggests that shippers will be forced to look for carriers with less ‘silly‘ demands.

Andrew Traill says that Shippers‘ Voice is curious to know if other shippers are experiencing similar impractical demands from carriers (air or sea), or whether this is merely a situation unique to just a few shippers and one or two carriers.