July 12th marks a couple of important things: The due date of my next child, and the day western North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Vermont enter Phase 1 of ACE e-Manifest.

As a reminder, this means that if you cross at land ports in these areas, you should attempt to file an e-Manifest before hitting the border. There isn’t a penalty for failure to file in this phase, but it’s in your best to do so, as it’ll help you get comfortable for when it is fully enforced and prevent delays when dealing with US Customs.

So beyond that, I want to open this up to comments. How has ACE e-Manifest been going for you, whether you’ve been doing it since January, or just started? How have we (Greeneye) been doing in providing service and meeting your needs? What can we do better? What were some of your experiences with “the other guys”?

Thanks — I look forward to hearing your comments!

We’ve talked to a lot of people in the last few months. From folks in northern Saskatchewan that ship just a few times a year, to the “big guys” in the major cities. Everyone initially experienced a feeling of fear regarding e-Manifest. Take heart though, even our smallest clients have adjusted and can attest that things work out.

This week we’ve heard of some Canadian companies planning to close their operations to the US. This in response to the further implementation of ACE e-Manifest.

If you’re reading this, please don’t give up. We realize this is another government program and a burden, but you can do it.

Here are a couple pointers:

- the ACE Portal can be tough to learn and slow to use. If you want “free”, you will spend more time setting yourself up and more time submitting each e-Manifest going forward. Note that you can keep your ACE Portal account if you sign up with Greeneye. If you decide to go back to the Portal, we’ll refund 100% of your first month’s Trips.

- With Greeneye, you can be sending e-Manifests within a couple hours.

- We are still hearing of companies that recently paid over $250 to setup on e-Manifest. Why should you pay for someone else to earn you as a customer. If you’re not going to use Greeneye, ask your provider to waive their setup fee.

- You don’t need to have an ACE Portal account to send e-Manifests. You also don’t need to close your ACE Portal account to sign up with Greeneye.

We hope you’ll consider doing business with us. We enjoy what we do. Whatever you do, please don’t give up. If you’re at a point of frustration, give us a call and we’ll help you as best as we can.

The US Customs and Border Protection announced in today’s Federal Register Notice that ACE e-Manifest Phase I will begin for Idaho and Montana starting Monday, August 6, 2007. This affects all trucks entering through land ports in both those states.

Remember, Phase I means you don’t need to file an e-Manifest when going through these ports (you won’t get turned around at the border), but it would be best to start trying. Consider it an opportunity to get to know ACE e-Manifest if you haven’t had the opportunity yet.

We wanted to let you all know that we’ve scrapped all of the content that was on our ACE e-Manifest Port Guide page and replaced it with an easier to understand ACE e-Manifest Deployment Map. Now you’ll be able to easily see how each e-Manifest phase deployment affects land ports in different states.

Consider the map we have up today a “draft” version. We know it’s a little fuzzy, but we thought it was better to get the information out now rather instead of later. We’ll update it with a higher quality version as soon as we can.

Starting today (Thursday, April 19, 2007), carriers entering through land ports in California, New Mexico, and Texas will be required to file electronic manifests prior to arriving at the border.

Since this is Phase I of the ACE e-Manifest implementation for these ports, the information we provided in Greeneye’s Explanation of the U.S. CBP ACE e-Manifest Enforcement Plan is relevant here:

1. If you can show you’ve attempted to file, you should be fine.
2. Providing a Trip Receipt is evidence of an attempt to file an e-Manifest.
3. The e-Manifest-exempted stuff is rare. Chances are an e-Manifest is required for most or all of your shipments.

Although many of the problems and system issues have already been worked out during the Cluster I roll out, you might still run into some issues. Here’s what you should do if that happens:

1. If your driver gets stopped, hassled, etc. for an e-Manifest issue, have them politely take the CBP Officer’s name and be sure to get a problem ticket. That’s the best way to document the situation and make sure its addressed and fixed in the future.
2. If you submit an e-Manifest, it’s not necessarily smooth sailing at the border. You’ll be transmitting a few dozen pieces of information that, if wrong or inconsistent, will require your driver to work with CBP to resolve the problems.

Good luck! Please call, email, or leave a comment if you have any questions - whether or not you’re a customer of ours.

The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection announced the latest ACE e-Manifest enforcement dates in a Federal Register Notice published on Friday, April 13th 2007. Briefly, it says that starting July 12, 2007, e-Manifests will need to be filed in advance of trucks entering the United States through land border ports in Vermont and New Hampshire, and the ports in North Dakota where it’s not currently being enforced. Those ports of entry are:

1. St. John
2. Fortuna
3. Ambrose
4. Carbury
5. Noonan
6. Dunseith
7. Sherwood
8. Antler
9. Northgate
10. Westhope
11. Portal

If you’re already passing through ports where e-Manifest is enforced, this obviously won’t be a huge deal for you. If this announcement will finally force you to start filing e-Manifests for the first time, now is a great time to apply for an ACE Portal account and investigate third party filing options. That will give you plenty of time to weigh your options and get used to the new requirements.

Customs has stated in their Enforcement Plan that in Phase 2, any truck without an e-Manifest attempt will be denied permit to proceed (that means denied entry into the US and turned around). Since Phase 2 begins in less than two weeks for some ports, it’s important to understand what is a valid attempt at an e-Manifest Trip.

“Phase 2: …CBP will deny a permit to proceed into the U.S. to any carrier, required to submit an e-Manifest, which arrives without submitting or attempting an e-Manifest…”

In correspondence with Jim Swanson, Chief Cargo Release Branch of the Office of Field Operations with US Customs, Greeneye has been informed that a Trip Receipt including a Trip Number is sufficient to proof of an attempt.

{Please request a Problem Ticket in any instance where you hear otherwise.}

The American Transportation Research Institute has published an analysis of the ACE e-Manifest roll-out and how it’s affecting carriers. You can download the report from their website: Assessing the Impact of the ACE Truck e-Manifest System on Trucking Operations (PDF).

The overall finding: ACE e-Manifest has been a mixed-bag: workload and costs have generally increased for carriers and the border process has become smoother. Here are a few point I think are worth noting:

1. The northern and southern borders are facing different issues: Paperwork and broker communication are the biggest challenges on the Canadian/U.S. border, while inspections and processing times are a concern on the Mexico/U.S. border.
2. Processes and paperwork requirements are not currently consistent at all border crossings (I’m sure this is not a surprise to you).
3. ACE e-Manifest actually improves inspection targeting: The number of trips where the driver is directed to secondary inspection have decreased by 50%, while the actual number of post-secondary inspections have increased by about 42%.
4. e-Manifest start-up costs have been considerable for many carriers.

Let me expand on that last point a bit. Here is the full paragraph regarding e-Manifest costs (emphasis is mine) :

“The case studies also reveal that although initial start-up costs are considerable for many carriers, the ACE Truck e-Manifest will potentially provide net operational benefits for medium and large carriers. This experience may differ for small carriers or carriers that do not cross the border frequently, primarily due to the substantial initial investment necessary and the lack of returns to scale. For some small carriers, the new technology may be the impetus to cease border crossing operations.”

It’s really a shame that small carriers are even facing that situation. But, the reality is 1) Customs’ ACE Portal is confusing and difficult to use and 2) Most 3rd party e-Manifest service providers charge you an arm and a leg just to get started.

That’s where we come in. We pride ourselves on not only being ridiculously easy to use, but on offering great customer service and no set-up fee. That last part bugs the heck out of some of our competitors, but we want to make it as easy as possible for you to try us out. We think that once you’ve given us a shot, you’ll stick with us. But, if for some reason you don’t, we won’t charge you a thing.

So email us or give us a call at 701.551.1414. You’ll talk to a real person who can answer your questions and get you setup in just a few easy steps.

US Customs has begun issuing Problem Tickets to drivers for e-Manifest issues in Blaine, WA and Pembina, ND. These tickets provide valuable information for resolving e-Manifest issues.

The e-Manifest Problem Ticket provides the name of the CBP Officer, the specific issue at hand, and the Shipment Control Number for resolution. This helps carriers, e-Manifest providers, and Customs Brokers work to resolve issues that delay the timely movement of cargo.

Greeneye recommends that your drivers request a Problem Ticket for any e-Manifest issue they encounter. Then, fax that Problem Ticket to Greeneye e-Manifest. We’ll work with the the Officer or Supervisor at Customs to gain understanding of the issue and get back to you.

(This is a service we offer to any carrier at no cost.)

View a sample CBP Problem Ticket (PDF)

Customs has announced this morning that they are pushing back Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the ACE e-Manifest deployment by at least 30 days due to ongoing system issues.

Here’s information from that memo:

“In February 2007, ACE began experiencing recurring problems with messaging to the trade participants. This problem prevents e-Manifest transmitters from knowing if they have successfully transmitted to CBP. This problem could potentially cause a situation where a carrier has filed a manifest, had it rejected by the system but did not receive the reject, arrive at the border and be denied a permit to proceed into the U.S. The messaging problem has been communicated to the trade and impacts the planned enforcement date of March 26, 2007. OIT [CBP Office of Information and Technology] has developed a fix for this scheduled for deployment in April 2007.

CBP has repeatedly stated that no enforcement actions would be taken beyond informed compliance if these actions were caused by CBP system problems. As a result the Phase 2 and 3 enforcement dates have been moved back a minimum of 30 days. The new enforcement date for Phase 2 is no earlier than April 26, 2007 and for Phase 3, no earlier than May 26, 2007. CBP will continue to monitor the compliance rates and system issues prior to beginning the next phase of enforcement. At this time, this only involves the ports in Washington, eastern North Dakota and Arizona.”

What does this mean for you?

Continue complying with the Phase 1 requirements of ACE e-Manifest. However, when your e-Manifest fails, bring a Trip Receipt to the border for confirmation that you made an e-Manifest attempt.

Stay tuned to www.emanifest.ca for more information.