BY TOBY GOOLEY, MANAGING EDITOR
MARITIME/PORTS
transportationreport
“ 10+ 2” + technology = progress
How goes compliance with the Importer Security Filing rule, better known as
“ 10+ 2”? Trade management software vendors give us the lowdown on the
problems their customers have encountered and what they’re doing to solve them.
IN THE 1980s, THEN-U.S. CUSTOMS COMMISSIONER
William von Raab warned importers, customs brokers, and
other international traders they’d have to “automate or perish.” Those words may be on many people’s minds these
days as they struggle to comply with the Importer Security
Filing (ISF) rule established by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP).
The ISF rule, which is intended to help CBP screen
incoming ocean containers for security risks, is popularly
known as “ 10+ 2”—a name derived from the number of
data elements importers ( 10) and ocean carriers ( 2) must
provide to CBP before a U.S.-bound container is loaded on
board a ship. To comply with the rule, which CBP began
enforcing in January, importers have been forced to make a
number of procedural changes. They must collect more
data than before—often from different parties than in the
past—and report it to CBP much earlier and in a different
format than they used to.
Global trade management (GTM) software vendors say
they can help. They have modified their existing products
or developed new ones to help customers gather, verify, for-
mat, and file ISF-required data. They’re also soliciting feed-
back from ISF filers to find out what problems the filers
may be experiencing so they can come up with fixes.
Working with overseas suppliers
One of the biggest challenges for importers and their filing
agents (usually customs brokers) is getting the required
information about the sources and intermediate handling of
an imported product. Import transactions often involve a
complex chain of unrelated businesses; sometimes shipments
are even resold while en route. Even when accurate information exists, it’s not always available as early as CBP wants.
Another challenge is that many U.S. imports originate in
regions where access to technology may be limited,
export/import processes are fairly informal, and buyers
must depend on intermediaries to bridge language and cultural gaps.
For Questa Web Inc., a GTM software provider in Westfield,
N.J., one of the most common requests from customers is for
help accommodating inadequate technology or Internet
