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Good afternoon,
As promised in our AIRMAIL to members yesterday, we monitored a call this afternoon held by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) pertaining to the COVID-19 impact on trade & cargo and wanted to immediately share our notes with members. If you have any questions pertaining to this information, please direct them to the Airforwarders Association or CBP at tradeevents@cbp.dhs.gov
CBP Call Participants:
Valerie Neuhart, Executive Assistant Commissioner Todd Owen, Executive Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith and Thomas Overacker,
Executive Director,
Cargo and Conveyance Security. Office of Field Operations.
Remarks by Executive Assistant Commissioner Todd Owen
:
- The recent Presidential Proclamation pertains to travelers and not cargo
- The free flow of cargo and trade remains important to the Administration
- There are no additional screening requirements for cargo. Cargo is currently not medically dangerous according to the professional medical community
- Passenger flight foreign national and U.S. air crew members can still come into one of the 13 admissible airports
- This requirement does not apply to all-cargo are members who are exempt form the requirement
- There have been no negative CBP staff impacts yet although closing of schools may change this. Telework enabled employees will be working from home and will be responsive to inquiries. CBP employees will be held accountable for their stakeholder responsiveness
- A small amount of officers have had to be quarantined but not significant yet. If this situation increases, port operations could be impacted port by port, case by case
Remarks by Executive Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith
:
- CBP is focused on implementation of USMCA and this work will not slow down
- Data pilots (Type 86) should not be impacted but this could change
Remarks by Thomas Overacker:
- There has been an immediate decline in express cargo and mail but air cargo has not significantly diminished but these volumes will be monitored
- The maritime port empty container situation is being monitored, contact Tom if issues encountered
General Discussion
- Exclusions for Section 301 tariffs for medical supplies are being granted to facilitate faster importation
- Chapter 99, 88 & 38 entries are rejecting in ACE which CBP will address immediately
- There will be ongoing situational calls with CBP as the crisis persists
- Maritime crew discovered to be ill upon arrival are referred to medical professionals and detained by CBP if required
- CBP has not determined if liquidation policies will be changed during the crisis
- It has been reported that some European countries have shut down borders to foreign goods, CBP is unaware of specific instances but urges to send examples to the agency if encountered
- C-TPAT validations will be postponed and validation periods extended. C-TPAT partners will receive clearance priority once import shipment volumes increase
- IATA said that some airlines will be running passenger planes with cargo and no passengers onboard. CBP will notify the various airports and anticipate their arrival.
- CBP is unsure if Grooms arriving on air horse charters are considered air crew and will determine
- The U.S. Coast Guard is expected to distribute its guidance on European originating cargo arriving under the Proclamation shortly. CBP will follow the directions of the captains of each port.
- Any additional questions should be sent through the address provided to the associations for the call
- Since some shipping will be forced to consolidate broker operations, CBP was asked to consider this in possibly extending processing times. CBP will therefore consider this request based on stakeholder data submitted.
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