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FULL SCREEN VIEW


- by Marcia MacLeod


The freight industry breathed a collective sigh of relief when the EU’s new Import Control System (ICS) and EMCS (Excise Movement Control System) both went live on 1 January with surprisingly few teething problems. At a meeting on 11 January, HM Revenue & Customs claimed it had processed 40,000 successful import consignments through ICS. Freight software suppliers


have been gearing up for the changeover. Impatex, for example, has all parts of its software up and running, well inside the two month grace period allowed by HMRC - a grace period rumoured to be extended to four months in total. “We want our customers to use all parts of the software so we can see if there are any hitches,” comments Impatex MD, Peter Day. Sita’s Champ Cargo Systems can


help airline customers to collect, store and submit ICS information. WFS, the airfreight handling


company, is using Champ in this way. “We use our local carrier customers to facilitate a dialogue with local customs,” explains sales and marketing manager, James Fernandez, However, not everything in


the transport garden is rosy. For a start, declarations have to be made with the national customs organisation governing the first port/airport of call in Europe, which means setting up connections with each of the customs organisations in the 27 EU member states. Not all EU member states are ready for the new systems, either, and those that are implementing them are not always interpreting them in the same way. Greek customs, for example, is said to be requiring ICS declarations to be in the local language. In addition, the responsibility


for submitting ICS declarations lies with the carrier - and, according to Day, not all carriers are even registered yet, and won’t be for a while because of the length


Forwarder quotes online


Linescape, known for providing ocean sailing schedules online, has added a freight rate exchange called Fresco for shippers to obtain quotations from forwarders. The latest in a long line of freight rate exchanges, few of which have lasted very long. Fresco is aimed at small and medium-sized shippers. So far, fewer than 20 forwarders have signed up for the service, although Linescape claims about 20,000


shippers use it every month, primarily to check ocean sailing schedules. Registered forwarders provide a list of the routes they serve and are alerted when shippers key in the


origin and destination of the cargo they want to move. Fresco does not enable bookings, produce shipping documentation or carry out other functions.


UPS on your phone


UPS has extended its mobile web and smartphone application to the UK, Germany France, Italy and Canada. The application allows customers using Blackberries or Androids to create shipments, track parcels and find their nearest UPS depot via their handheld devices. Shipping labels can also be created, emailed and even printed off their smartphones using UPS Mobile Apps. UPS has sold its Logistics Technologies division to US private equity company Thoma Bravo. The division


was based on Roadnet, a routing and scheduling package, but UPS’s systems have gone way beyond the capabilities of Roadnet, which is now aimed at SMEs.


THE IT SEcTION


ISSUE 1 2011


New customs systems – so far, so good


Despite panic towards the end of the year, introduction of new customs systems seems to have gone remarkably smoothly. But you might need to brush up on your Greek, says Marcia MacLeod.


of time it takes to complete the registration process. Carriers have been burdened


with the ICS task because the EU believes only they have access to the necessary information. An importer in the UK, or elsewhere in Europe, is not going to know for sure when goods leave their point of origin, what vessel or aircraft it is on, the exact route of that vessel or aircraft or when it will arrive in Europe. Carriers should have this data


at their fingertips - but they won’t have detailed information on the goods being sent: customs code, number of pieces, height, weight or cube. They will have to get this from the shipper - who no more wants to get involved in this process than they want to physically load the goods. So the shipper will rely on their forwarder to gather the correct information and hand it over to the carrier. And then who is responsible if the information is incorrect or the cargo does not ship as booked?


Indeed, how many forwarders or shippers outside Europe are going to be at all interested? “Carriers have to get their information from forwarders at the point of origin,” emphasises trade service director at British International Freight Association, John O’Connell. “No one in somewhere like China will ever be interested in ICS: they will just expect their carrier to get on with it.” It is possible the overseas


forwarder may ask their European partner to help - but only with the permission of the carrier, and since carriers are responsible for the accuracy and timely completion of the documentation, they are unlikely to do so without express approval from customs. The industry lobbied hard for joint filing, in which the carrier provides some information and forwarders the rest, but the European Commission rejected it. Whoever submits the entry, it adds cost to the shipping


Russian IT moves


Russian freight companies are making greater use of IT for planning and controlling operations. In an effort to improve communication with customers and suppliers, AirBridgeCargo Airlines has become Traxon Europe’s first customer in Russia. Meanwhile, in ocean freight,


bulk shipping line Balt-Forward LLC is to trial Electronic Shipping Solutions’ CargoDocs eBill of Lading service for exports of Russian crude oil leaving Primorsk. “We are very enthusiastic about CargoDocs, says Lolita Savchenko, Balt-Forward’s operations director. “We estimate that eDocs will eliminate up to six hours per voyage which are currently wasted on printing, signing, stamping and distributing paper.”


process. Air and sea carriers are charging an average $25 per ICS declaration. Even without the charge, it means more work, more paperwork and therefore more cost. “ICS is extremely complex,”


says O’Connell. “A lot of it is intangible. It is still really a work in progress. I think it will take at least six months - probably a year - before we see any real clarity.” He added that there is in any event a two month grace period to allow carriers to ‘run in’ the programme before member states start to ramp up compliance levels. If ICS is confusing, EMCS,


which governs the declaration and payment of excise duty, has heralded an even bigger change, automating a system that was


previously manual. UK shippers and forwarders had just two weeks to test the system - over Christmas. “The massive change and short testing time means many people don’t understand the rules,” says Howard Marsh, business development manager at e-Customs, which works for shippers and forwarders. One of those rules currently


states that forwarders must use the same system for receiving excise information from customers as their shipper customers, although declarations can be sent to customs from any number of systems. “Customs recognises this is a problem,” Day points out, “as shippers want their forwarders to take on most of the burden, but it won’t be resolved until at least the end of the year.”


IT news in brief


The boss of German satellite firm OHB Technology became a casualty of the Wikileaks revelations after he described the EU-funded Galileo satellite navigation system as “stupid”, doomed to failure” and driven by French military interests. Berry Smutny’s former company is one of the companies involved in the pan-European project, which is meant to challenge the dominance of the US GPS (Global Positioning System). According to Wikileaks, Mr Smutny’s remarks were made to US diplomats in October 2009. He denied making the claim, but that did not prevent the supervisory board of OHB Technology voting unanimously to sack him.


Logistics and Transportation software specialist Four Soft has signed a deal with Ipswich-based forwarder Dooley Rumble to implement its 4S eLog warehouse management application and Web centric Connectivity tool (eConnect) across several locations. Director Neil Dooley said he was looking to improve productivity and visibility in the business.


Argo International Forwarders has selected RedPrairie’s Warehouse Management solution to replace a manual stock card and spreadsheet system. It will use the system for all of its core business processes, including warehouse operation, freight forwarding and global distribution.


Felix Keck of Traxon Europe with Tatyana Arslanova of AirBridgeCargo


DB Schenker Logistics has gained global accreditation to Phase 2 of the Cargo 2000 airfreight quality management programme. As part of the process, the forwarder had to prove that it had fully implemented Phase 2 into its systems and that the global quality management system was supported by the management. It also had to demonstrate full transparency for the whole air cargo process from door to door and that it was constantly measuring processes and service quality, especially with regard to booked transit times. It is now working on Phase 3, which will create transparency for all shipments at piece- level.


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