Plans to restructure the cargo release process for imports and exports hauled by truck could lead to massive disorder at the border and disrupt supply chains throughout the nation, shippers and carriers are warning U.S. Customs Service officials.

A proposal that would require importers shipping goods to the United States from Canada or Mexico by truck to electronically submit cargo data to Customs four hours before trucks are loaded, was assailed by shippers and carriers last week at a public meeting in Washington.
The proposal to restructure the cargo-release process for imports and exports hauled by truck would "devastate" supply chains, transportation executives told U.S. Customs Service officials last Thursday.
"This would probably shut down the just-in-time delivery system we are so dependent on," said Martin Rojas, American Trucking Assns.' director of cross-border operations. "It concerns everybody in the supply chain, not just trucking."
The Journal of Commerce quoted shippers and carriers as saying the proposal would bring freight flow to a halt and require manufacturers to hold more inventory, driving up costs to producers and consumers.
Gilbert S. Duhn, customs manager with General Motors in Detroit, said GM would have to radically change its manufacturing operations to comply with the four-hour requirement. "We don't even order parts four hours ahead of the time we drop them into cars on our production line," Duhn said. "We have parts that will leave Detroit and go to Windsor, Ontario, to be painted there and returned to Detroit within two hours."
The four-hour proposal stems from the Trade Act of 2002. The law calls on Customs to develop rules requiring the electronic transmission of cargo data prior to the arrival or departure of the freight. For exports, Customs is proposing a 24-hour notification period.
Customs is holding a series of public meetings to discuss the development of regulations requiring electronic submission of cargo information to the Automated Commercial Environment and Automated Export System.