Stephanie Coleman, Gleaner Writer
INEFFICIENCIES IN the submissions of manifests by freight agencies threaten the viability of the Jamaica Customs Department's new electronic manifest system at APM Terminals that was introduced earlier this month.
A manifest is a document produced by the shipping agent or the airline describing the type of cargo they are carrying, as well as the cargo's volume, destination and recipient. The new automated system is expected to cut the processing time of cargo in half and increase transparency in shipment processes.
"We have been attempting the system since 1999, introducing it on a phased basis and have been refining the system since then," said senior development analyst for the Customs Department, James Grant.
The new system is outfitted with a search engine and replaces the paper documents that are not kept in any particular order. The manual system caused congestion and extended waiting periods for customers.
The process for retrieving shipments is still time consuming as the department is using paper documents to verify the accuracy of electronic manifests as some freight agencies submit incomplete or incorrect manifests.
INCOMPLETE INFORMATION
"Sometimes the agencies send the manifests and we don't get it or don't see it, or the information is incomplete. We still need to verify that the ship on the manifest actually exists and sometimes the containers are on the ship but not on the manifest," Grant said
"We would like to have the manifest 24 hours before the ship arrives to ensure that we are on top of any threat that may come to our shores. We need to have more intelligence-driven security strategies because we can't check every barrel, we just don't have the manpower," he continued.
Shipping agents, freight forwarders and airline agents will be able to submit their manifests to Jamaica Customs using any of the three international document formats, namely ANSI X12, CAMIR and EDIFACT. Manifests can also be submitted through the Custom's eManifest website at www.jacustoms.gov.jm/emanifest.
"Our website is very user-friendly, but we do provide free training for shipping agents and freight forwarders," said director of the information management unit at the Jamaica Customs Department, Nadine Shirley-Moore in a release.
