Dear Sir/Madam,
he new regulation “US Customs 24 Hour Advance Manifest Rule” has been in force since February 2 2003.
The new regulation for shipment of containers by sea to the USA
states the following:
To prevent manipulation of containers container doors must be sealed securely. (Non-observance of this can be punished with fines of up to $10,000).
The lock should protect the shipper from unlawful entry, theft or dangerous items being planted inside.
In order to prevent these eventualities, C-TPAT, under guidance from Hapag, recommends using container seals as standard practice. These seals are only able to be opened with huge effort and therefore reduce the risk of manipulation to a minimum.
There will always be an element of risk from manipulation. With specialist container seals manipulation and opening is made more and more difficult.
For this reason well-known shipping lines are instructing their customers to start using these locking systems (bolt seals) with immediate effect.
These seals are standard for shipments to the USA. Please bring this fact to the attention of your shipping department to avoid tedious bureaucracy with the customs authorities.
For further questions on this matter please do not hesitate to contact us.